The paranoid voice of America

My fellow Americans, you're a pretty weird bunch of people.

I say this with love. But really, what's up with your attitude toward government?

On both the left and the right, Americans oscillate between a peculiar, irrational deference toward government and an equally peculiar, irrational suspicion of it.

On the left, a touching faith in the federal government's ability to solve domestic social problems (poverty, ill health, etc.) by spending money is generally coupled with an absolute conviction that when it comes to foreign policy and national security, everything emanating from the federal government is a tissue of lies covering up a sinister imperialist conspiracy and/or destroying domestic civil liberties.

Meanwhile, on the right, a touching faith in the absolute rightness and virtue of the military and the absolute need to pour additional tax dollars into national security is usually coupled with an equally deep conviction that when it comes to federal spending on domestic programs, the government is a) lying, b) incompetent and c) determined to subvert our freedoms.

Of course, right and left occasionally find common ground in their shared conviction that the federal government is trying to control and brainwash us all.

Trust me, it's not. It's just not organized enough. And it's just not interested enough. It's got other things to do.

As of July 1, when the repeal took effect, radio and TV programs designed for non-U.S. audiences, such as those produced by Voice of America, can now be rebroadcast in the United States.

Left and right are temporarily united over the horror of "government propaganda" hitting the U.S. airwaves.

"Obama Launches Massive Domestic Propaganda Push With Government-Run News," shrills Conservative News Central. "Coming soon to your living room: Government made propaganda," laments a post on the Lonely Conservative blog.

Meanwhile, a blog post on Antiwar.com snickers, "Now Legalized, US Propaganda Swears It's 'Fair and Accurate.' " On the progressive website Common Dreams, a post sneers, "Because the government doesn't already wield enough power over what we see and hear," the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act will now allow government-produced information programs to "lie about how well our wars are going."

OK, I guess I get it. With so much idiotic privately produced propaganda already widely available here in the U.S. of A., who needs government propaganda? Our private sector already does a fine job of disseminating inflammatory misinformation, thank you very much. I mean: We already have Fox News, Matt Drudge and TruthOut. We can already find plenty of media outlets that purvey shamelessly one-sided, irresponsible garbage. Why muddy the waters by adding government-funded news?

The irony, of course, is that, just as the government is likely to use our Internet data more responsibly than the private sector, the "government propaganda" that will supposedly flood the country as a result of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act is produced to a markedly higher journalistic standard than most of what passes for news here in the United States.

Let's dispel some myths about the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act.

First, it has zero effect on the CIA or the Pentagon; Smith-Mundt only covers information programs produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The CIA and the Pentagon remain subject to entirely different laws and restrictions on certain kinds of domestic activities. If the CIA starts propagandizing you, it won't be because of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act. If DOD funds something dumb, it won't be because of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act.

Second, the ban on domestic dissemination of BBG TV and radio shows was simply unworkable in the age of the Internet. The Internet is global. There is literally no way to prevent a show produced for foreign audiences from being accessed by Americans. In this sense, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act just acknowledges reality: Anyone, anywhere in the world, can access BBG programs. The only thing that's really changed as a result of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act is that Americans no longer have to work harder than foreigners to access the U.S.-funded radio and TV programs readily available overseas.

Third, the TV and radio programs produced by the BBG (a descendant of the old U.S. Information Agency (USIA), which closed shop in 1999) are actually pretty good — and they're editorially independent of State Department control. The BBG is an independent federal agency with a bipartisan board. Its mandate is to produce programming that is "reliable and authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive," as well as "consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the United States." And when they say "broad," they mean broad, to include "a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions" and "responsible discussion and opinion" on U.S. policy.

BBG programs have won many journalistic awards, including recognition from the Association for International Broadcasting for coverage of events in Egypt, reports on violence against women in Kyrgyzstan and a series on the lives of slaves in modern Asia. Most recently, a Voice of America program satirizing Iranian politics won a CINE Golden Eagle award.

The BBG produces serious, thought-provoking news and commentary programs in dozens of languages, covering current affairs in dozens of countries. In an era in which U.S. media outlets have radically cut back on overseas bureaus and foreign coverage, do we really need to "protect" American audiences from these shows?

And why would we want to? Prior to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, Somalis in Somalia could watch and listen to BBG-produced shows critically discussing Somalia's Al-Shabab terrorist group, but when Somali-American radio stations wanted permission to rebroadcast the same shows in Minneapolis, the official answer had to be: "Sorry, no, you can't do that. If you want to access this programming, you need to submit a Freedom of Information Act request, or get a Somali friend to record it for you — but you still can't rebroadcast it."

In other words, Somali-Americans could access Al-Qaida's Inspire magazine with ease, but they had to jump through multiple hoops to listen to Voice of America.

Brilliant.

On the whole, it's full of decent people, both civilian and military, trying hard to serve the country, abide by the law, and exercise responsible stewardship over the taxpayer funds entrusted to the government.

The BBG is very much in that tradition. By and large, the BBG produces serious, responsible journalism, and if a little more of that journalism makes it into the United States, we'll all get a little smarter.

And hey, if you don't like the BBG? You can always go back to your little corner of cable news or the Internet — whether it's on the far right or the far left — and cuddle up with your like-minded friends.

I promise: The truth will never, ever find you there.

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