The Commission has adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if approved, would establish rules requiring specific disclosure requirements for broadcast programming that is paid for, or provided by a foreign government or its representative.
It comes following recent actions involving a Mandarin-language service targeting L.A., and Russia-sponsored Sputnik Radio.
The NPRM was adopted Oct. 16, and released Monday (10/26).
The comment date is 30 days following publication in the Federal Register; the reply comment date is 60 days after such publication in the Federal government’s journal of record.
The NPRM is all about transparency, the Commission explains.
“Oftentimes … foreign governments pay for the airing of such programming, or provide it to broadcast stations free of charge, and the programming may not contain a clear indication, or sometimes any indication at all, to the listener or viewer that a
foreign government has paid for, or provided, the content,” the Commission notes. “While the Commission’s current rules require a sponsorship identification when a station has been compensated for airing particular material, the rules require disclosure of the sponsor’s name and do not, as part of its ‘reasonable diligence,’ require that a station determine whether the source of the programming is in fact a foreign government or mandate that the connection to a foreign government is disclosed to the public at the time of broadcast. We believe, however, that the American people deserve to know when a foreign government has paid for programming, or furnished it for free, so that viewers
and listeners can better evaluate the value and accuracy of such programming.”
The complete NPRM can be found here.
The NPRM could prevent further questions as to who’s behind the content of such operations as URadio. Indeed, the NPRM arrives under political pressure from such Capitol Hill figures as Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee who has been a vocal critic of Phoenix TV, a Mandarin-language operation. It’s tied to Phoenix Radio, which the Commission has determined is funded by the Chinese government. Phoenix Radio produces all of the programming for URadio, heard on Mexican “border blaster” XEWW-AM 690 in Tijuana, Baja California.
The NPRM, introduced by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, also likely puts English-language, Russia-influenced Sputnik on notice that it must fully disclose who is behind the dollars — or, in this case, rubles. Thus, House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and fellow Democrat Anna Eshoo are likely pleased with the proposed rulemaking.
In February, Eshoo and Doyle took Pai to task for his “inaction” on addressing Sputnik’s operations in the U.S. It started in 2019, when a Florida-based operation named RM Broadcasting, which operates Sputnik in the U.S., was ordered by a federal judge to register as a foreign agent.
Then came news that Sputnik is leasing six hours of air time on a Kansas City trimulcast after already providing programming 24/7 to Washington, D.C. listeners to a FM translator owned by prominent D.C. communications attorney John Garziglia.
In DOJ filings, RM confirmed that it was paid $1.43 million between November 24, 2017 and June 2019 by Rossíya Segódnya, the government news agency created in 2013 by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In Eshoo’s view, Pai had fallen short in enforcement of the Foreign Entities Reform Act, which requires U.S. media outlets to disclose state-sponsored programming.
Pai’s decision to tee up the NPRM now could be political. In February, Eshoo and Doyle penned a letter to Pai that said, “Americans are currently in the process of deciding who they will elect to lead our country, and it’s critical that they are not unknowingly influenced by foreign propaganda. The FCC’s continued inaction, after receiving many Congressional letters from us about this critically important issue, is a stunning abdication of its responsibility to protect American airwaves.”
The NPRM may be one of the few bipartisan rulemaking actions getting vocal approval from both sides of the aisle. In a statement, Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who many say could become Chair if Joe Biden is elected U.S. President, said, “Today the Federal Communications Commission begins a rulemaking to develop requirements to disclose when foreign governments and foreign agents buy time to broadcast content on our airwaves. This is the right thing to do.
“Right now, we are awash in reports that foreign actors are attempting to influence our political process and democratic elections in the United States. We also know that foreign entities are purchasing time on broadcast stations in markets across the country, including Russian government-sponsored programming right here our nation’s capital. But it’s mindboggling that the FCC has yet to update its policies under Section 317 to ensure that the public knows when foreign actors who may wish to do us harm are paying to access our airwaves and influence our citizens. Today we begin to fix this situation.”
