Signed in law in 1994 by U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, this act was meant to streamline the U.S. international broadcasting and provide a cost-effective way to continue

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, and

Radio Marti Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

.Raghavan, Sudarsan V., Stephen S. Johnson, Kristi K. Bahrenburg. Sending cross-border static: on the fate of Radio Free Europe and the influence of international broadcasting. Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 47, 1993. It placed control of the international broadcasting under the

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...

History

In 1958, President Eisenhower in an address to the United Nations proposed monitoring radio broadcasts:

I believe that this Assembly should ... consider means for monitoring the radio broadcasts directed across national frontiers in the troubled Near East area. It should then examine complaints from these nations which consider their national security jeopardized by external propaganda.

In the 1960s, President Kennedy to build an international broadcasting arm of the United States to as a way to promote foreign policy and overthrow communism. In 1976, President Gerald Ford signed the Voice of America charter that established it as the leading branch of US international broadcasting. In 1993, the Clinton Administration proposed cutting the budget for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in order to reduce budget expenditures. However, after working with the Congress, the International Broadcasting Act was born.

Original law

This Act (Public Law 103-236) consolidated all non-military, U.S. Government international broadcast services under a

Broadcasting Board of Governors The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information. It describes its mission, "vital to US nation ...

(BBG) and also created the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). The BBG is an independent government agency created to replace the Board for International Broadcasting and consolidate

broadcasting.Broadcasting Board of Governors FAQ
/ref> In this law, the president appoints one member of the board as the chairman of the board. The Secretary of State also serves on the board. Besides combining current radio service, this act also created the Radio Free Asia – a network aimed at Burma, China, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam.

Congressional updates

In September 2009, the

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one-year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia. In 2002, the Act was amended to include the Radio Free Afghanistan. In May 1994, the president announce the continuation of Radio Free Asia after 2009 was dependent on its increased international broadcasting and ability to reach its audience.Executive Order 12, 850, 3 C.F.R. 606, 607 § 1(b).

References

{{Reflist United States foreign relations legislation 103rd United States Congress International broadcasting