Originally Posted by
selil
I thought the purpose of smith-mundt was to restrict propoganda from the military and empower the press to cover without coercion.
MountainRunner explains Smith-Mundt's declared purpose here.
S-M was less about protecting tender American ears and more about getting the message out to counter what was seen as highly effective Communist propaganda and to fix what was seen (not without substantial merit) crappy U.S. propaganda (when it existed).
It has been misinterpreted. The law was never intended to apply to DoD
It was meant to protect domestic broadcasters from gov't competion
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