The ongoing struggle to combat the administration’s use of public funds to create fake-news segments has finally taken legislative form. Late last week, Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Truth in Broadcasting Act.
The legislation would require that “prepackaged news stories” produced by the Administration contain a disclosure of the source of the material. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has ruled that the Administration’s use of “prepackaged news stories” was illegal “covert propaganda” because the government’s role was not disclosed to viewers. On March 11th 2005, the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Justice issued memos to all executive branch agencies ordering them to ignore the GAO ruling and gave the green light to further use of fake news stories that hide the government’s role in their production.
The Lautenberg-Kerry Truth in Broadcasting Act would follow the legal ruling of the GAO and establish permanent federal law that prepackaged news stories by the government must disclose the government’s role with a disclaimer.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “But, Carpetbagger, administration propaganda already includes a disclaimer.” That’s only partially true. Some fake-news segments never told viewers about the government’s role in creating the video, while others made it easy for broadcasters to edit the disclosure out of the broadcast. The Lautenberg-Kerry bill would mandate that the disclaimer run “continuously” throughout the segment.
If this effort sounds vaguely familiar to you, Lautenberg offered a similar proposal recently as an amendment to a spending bill. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens struck a deal with Lautenberg — remove the amendment and the committee will consider the matter as a freestanding bill, including a hearing. The Dems agreed.
So, now we’re getting somewhere. Stevens has told Lautenberg the hearing could come as early as this month. Stay tuned.