FCC chairman Ajit Pai has circulated a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) establishing new disclosure requirements for TV and radio content sponsored by foreign governments.
“With some station content coming from the likes of China and Russia, it is time to update our rules and shed more sunlight on these practices," he said, urging his colleagues to vote to approve his proposal ASAP.
The rules would require "a specific disclosure at the time of broadcast if a foreign governmental entity has paid a radio or television station, directly or indirectly, to air material, or if the programming was provided to the station free of charge by such an entity as an inducement to broadcast the material."
The FCC would supply standardized disclosure language.
While the FCC already has rules requiring disclosure of sponsored content, they don't specify when and how content from foreign governments should be disclosed.
