I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1379
To provide statutory authority and standards for the conduct of United
States Government international broadcasting activities, to provide the
President with flexibility in using international broadcasting resources
to meet the foreign policy needs of the United States, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 17, 1993
Mr. BERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To provide statutory authority and standards for the conduct
of United States Government international broadcasting
activities, to provide the President with flexibility in
using international broadcasting resources to meet the
foreign policy needs of the United States, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Broad-
casting Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.
The Congress makes the following findings and dec-
larations of policy:
(1) It is the policy of the United States to pro-
mote the freedom ‘‘to seek, receive and impart infor-
mation and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers’’, in accordance with article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
(2) Open communication among the peoples of
the world is in the interests of the United States.
(3) It is in the interests of the United States
to support broadcasting to other nations consistent
with the requirements of this Act.
SEC. 3. STANDARDS.
International broadcasting supported by United
States Government funds shall—
(1) be consistent with the broad foreign policy
objectives of the United States;
(2) be consistent with the international tele-
communications policies and treaty obligations of the
United States;
(3) complement the activities of private United
States broadcasters;
(4) complement the activities of government
supported broadcasting entities of other democratic
nations;
(5) be conducted in accordance with the highest
professional standards of broadcast journalism;
(6) be based on reliable information about its
potential audience; and
(7) be designed so as to effectively reach a sig-
nificant audience.
SEC. 4. FUNCTIONS.
United States international broadcasting shall in-
clude—
(1) news which is consistently reliable and au-
thoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive;
(2) a balanced and comprehensive projection of
American thought and institutions, reflecting the di-
versity of American culture and society;
(3) clear and effective presentation of the poli-
cies of the United States Government and respon-
sible discussion and opinion on those policies;
(4) programming to meet needs which remain
unserved by the totality of media voices available to
the people of certain nations;
(5) a source of information about developments
in each significant region of the world;
(6) a forum for a variety of opinions and voices
from within particular nations and regions prevented
by censorship or repression from speaking to their
fellow countrymen;
(7) reliable research capacity to meet the cri-
teria under this section;
(8) adequate transmitter and relay capacity to
support the activities described in this section;
(9) a source of information about developments
in Asia and a forum for a variety of opinions and
voices from within Asian nations whose people do
not enjoy freedom of expression; and
(10) training and technical support for inde-
pendent indigenous media through government agen-
cies or private United States entities.
SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.
(a) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT.—The President may
assign responsibility for any of the functions of United
States Government supported international broadcasting
under this Act to any agency of the United States Govern-
ment. The President may authorize any public or private
entity to carry out the functions described in paragraphs
5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of section 4(b).
(b) GRANTS.—The President and any agency of the
United States Government is authorized to make grants
to RFE/RL Incorporated or any other public or private
entity in order to carry out the functions of paragraphs