Weston R. Sager
@weston_sager
Legal scholar on state media laws and regulations. Admitted to practice law in New Hampshire and New York. All opinions are my own.
ID: 983345259257257984
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/nulr/vol109/iss2/7/ 09-04-2018 14:05:54
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According to an official Congressional investigation, there have been at least 860 (!) violations of the Smith-Mundt Act over a two-year period. This cannot continue--Americans should not be targeted with U.S. government-funded media under federal law. foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/upl…
Still need confirmation that BBC is self-attributing as state media. If true, hoping that US state media outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty follow suit. Here is research J.M. Grygiel 🐀 and I have published regarding identifying and labeling state media: scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol11/is…
NPR labeled as state media on Twitter? Not as crazy as it might seem so long as ex-USAGM head John Lansing is in charge: npr.org/people/7702705…. Still, seems odd--known US state media outlets Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty should certainly get the label first.
Kudos to Elon Musk and @Twitter for properly labeling U.S. state media outlet Voice of America as "Government Funded." People deserve to know when the U.S. government is talking to them. Still work to be done (such as labeling Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), but this is an important step towards transparency.
Thrilled to see that Twitter has also labeled Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as "Government-funded Media." Despite what Amanda Bennett said to the U.S. State Department recently (state.gov/special-online…), this label is accurate and in no way "misleading."
More exciting news! In case you missed it, last month, I appeared on the Robert F. Kennedy Jr podcast RFK Jr Podcast to discuss my research on U.S. state media as well as the CIA's historical involvement in journalism and art. Link here: podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rfkjr…