Katie's Media Law and Literacy: Week 12: EOTO Terms and Concepts

The Smith-Mundt Act

The Smith-Mundt act is an authorization of the department of state to conduct propaganda activities. It was originally introduced by Karl E. Mundt and it was made to broadcast ideas from America to other countries, along with things like movies and books. This act was passed and signed by Harry Truman on January 27, 1948. For over 60 years the American government was exposing different countries to different types of propaganda such as magazines, radio shows, and tv broadcasts. This meant not a lot of information from other countries was allowed into America, but American propaganda was being broadcasted in other countries.

The Obama Administration overlooked this act in 2012 and it is now called the Smith-Mundt modernization act. This amended the foreign relations authorization act of 1987 AND the united states information and educational exchange act from 1948. This got rid of that control of American propaganda in other countries allowed for other countries to broadcast information to America. This also allowed the government to make propaganda targeted at Americans but this hasn't been a big enough problem yet for it to be talked about. A quote from my research site:

"The actual change has prompted little discussion outside public diplomacy and international broadcast circles"(Smith-Mundt reform: In with a whimper?).

Its effect on our society has lead to globalization in America, and less American ideologies being forced down other countries’ throats. The old act pushed for no global broadcasts but allowed themselves to broadcast locally which meant other countries were being blasted with American propaganda and the American people weren’t being broadcasted global information. As if the American public were placed in a bubble with no outside knowledge of global news. The old act can also relate back to misinformation by the use of propaganda influencing society.

The new act allows for the global exchange of information from broadcasting. This helps Americans get global news about what’s happening in other countries. It’s important to become globally notified of news because then everyone becomes aware of worldly situations and how the effect of America affects other countries. This way all countries can be unified in allowing the news to be spread to everyone no matter where they live (as long as their country allows for freedom of knowledge).

In terms of this act affecting our generation, I think we as young adults have been raised to not trust everything anyone or the government says so if they were to use propaganda on us I don't think it would be very effective. In terms of how this affects different segments of people, this act is mainly the US government vs. the American people while also the US being against every country. The government’s use of propaganda is bad enough when they use it on their own people, but especially now most people know what propaganda looks like and how to respond to it. I personally don’t know how bad American propaganda was in other countries, but if I was living somewhere else, I probably wouldn’t like the fact that the American government is trying to force their ideologies on the people of other places.