[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 967 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 967

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that prepackaged news 
stories contain announcements that inform viewers that the information 
  within was provided by the United States Government, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 28, 2005

Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mr. Kerry, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
  Dorgan, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. Dayton) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that prepackaged news 
stories contain announcements that inform viewers that the information 
  within was provided by the United States Government, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Truth in Broadcasting Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. TRUTH IN BROADCASTING OF PREPACKAGED NEWS STORIES.

    Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 342. ANNOUNCEMENT OF FEDERAL AGENCY SPONSORSHIP OF PREPACKAGED 
              NEWS STORY.

    ``(a) Disclaimer Required.--Any prepackaged news story produced by 
or on behalf of a Federal agency that is broadcast or distributed by a 
network organization, broadcast licensee or permittee, or multichannel 
video programming distributor in the United States shall contain an 
announcement supplied by the Federal agency within the prepackaged news 
story that conspicuously identifies the United States Government as the 
source for the prepackaged news story.
    ``(b) Presentation.--The announcement required under subsection (a) 
shall be broadcast or distributed so as--
            ``(1) to promote consistency with the announcement 
        requirements required under sections 317 and 507;
            ``(2) in the case of television and other video 
        programming--
                    ``(A) to be visible for the entire duration of the 
                prepackaged news story; and
                    ``(B) to include the conspicuous display of the 
                statement `PRODUCED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'; and
            ``(3) in the case of radio and other audio programming, to 
        audibly inform the audience of the source of the prepackaged 
        news story.
    ``(c) Removal of Disclaimer Prohibited.--It is unlawful for any 
person to remove an announcement required by this section.
    ``(d) FCC To Determine Nature of Disclaimers.--The Commission shall 
determine the exact design, presentation, and additional language, if 
any, required for the announcements described in subsection (a).
     ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Agency.--The term `agency' has the same meaning given 
        such term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code, and 
        includes the Executive Office of the President.
            ``(2) Multichannel video programming distributor.--The term 
        `multichannel video programming distributor' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 602.
            ``(3) Network organization.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commission shall define the 
                term `network organization' for purposes of this 
                section.
                    ``(B) Inclusion.--In defining `network 
                organization', the Commission shall include all 
                entities that may provide a prepackaged news story to a 
                broadcast licensee.
            ``(4) Prepackaged news story.--The term `prepackaged news 
        story' means a complete, ready-to-use audio or video news 
        segment designed to be indistinguishable from a news segment 
        produced by an independent news organization.''.
                                 <all>