The United States "legalized" propaganda or "information programs" by renewing the Smith Mundt Act of 1948 through the NDAA of 2011 and fully through the Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. The intention of the Smith Mundt act is for international information programs which specifies that it does not exclude or prohibit national involvement. All of the mainstream media is international. How could it be possible to promote propaganda only on an international level without including the national media especially with the internet which connects the whole world? That would be impossible and means that VOA and its new CEO are working in sync with the national media. I interpret this criminal bill as any propaganda that can be used on an international level is authorized even if that propaganda has more influence on a national level. It all comes down to their claim of intent. It states that they are not restricted in providing their information programs to national media based on a presumption it will be used to influence Americans. The type of wording used in this bill is contradicting and enables and protects them from doing what they claim is not their intention.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/5736

Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 - Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to authorize the Secretary of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide for the preparation and dissemination of information INTENDED for foreign audiences abroad about the United States, including about its people, its history, and the federal government's policies, through press, publications, radio, motion pictures, the Internet, and other information media, including social media, and through information centers and instructors. (Under current law such authority is restricted to information disseminated abroad, with a limited domestic exception.)

Authorizes the Secretary and the Board to make available in the United States motion pictures, films, video, audio, and other materials prepared for dissemination abroad or disseminated abroad pursuant to such Act, the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994, the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act, or the Television Broadcasting to Cuba Act.

Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1986 and 1987 to prohibit funds for the Department of State or the Board from being used to influence public opinion or propagandizing in the United States. (Under current law such provision applies to the United States Information Agency [USIA].)

Applies such prohibition only to programs carried out pursuant to the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994, the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act, and the Television Broadcasting to Cuba Act.

States that such provision shall: (1) NOT PROHIBIT the Department or the Board from providing information about its operations, policies, programs, or program material, or making such information available to members of the media, public, or Congress; (2) not be construed to prohibit the Department from engaging in any medium of information on a presumption that a U.S. domestic audience may be exposed to program material; and (3) apply only to the Department and the Board and to no other federal department or agency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

Voice of America (VOA) is a United States government-funded multimedia news source and the official external broadcasting institution of the United States.[1] VOA provides programming for broadcast on radio, television, and the Internet outside of the U.S., in English and some foreign languages such as Persian and French. The VOA charter—signed into law in 1976 by President Gerald Ford—requires VOA to "serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news" and "be accurate, objective and comprehensive".[2]