New Bill Locks Away Government-Produced Foreign Media for 12 Years, Restricting Public Access and Transparency

The aptly named "Charlie Kirk Act" is all about what you can—and, more importantly, what you can't—see regarding U.S. government media efforts abroad. This bill updates the law governing the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the agency that runs outlets like Voice of America, allowing its CEO to prepare and disseminate information about the U.S. to foreign audiences. The catch? It doubles down on limiting that information's availability right here at home, creating a major transparency hurdle.

The Great Wall of Information

The core of this bill is a strict ban on distributing USAGM program material domestically. If the government is sending a message overseas, you generally aren't supposed to see it here. The law already had restrictions, but this bill reinforces them, explicitly prohibiting the use of USAGM funds to "influence U.S. public opinion." That sounds fine on the surface—we don't want our tax dollars spent on government-run propaganda aimed at us—but the way the bill handles access to this material raises serious questions for researchers and the public.

The 12-Year Embargo on Taxpayer-Funded Content

Here’s where things get complicated for anyone who cares about government accountability or history. The bill mandates a 12-year waiting period before most USAGM materials—like motion pictures, video, and audio—that were disseminated abroad can be released domestically. After this long wait, the materials are handed over to the Archivist of the United States for domestic distribution. Think about that: if the government produces a documentary in 2024 to tell the world about U.S. policy, a historian or journalist won't be able to access it in the U.S. until 2036. This is a massive delay on materials produced with taxpayer money.

Access Barriers and Hidden Costs

Even after the 12-year embargo lifts, getting your hands on this archived content isn't easy. The bill requires the Archivist to charge a fee "sufficient to cover the Archivist's costs," meaning the public has to pay again to access government-funded materials. Worse, the bill requires anyone seeking the material to ensure they have secured "necessary U.S. rights and licenses." For a regular researcher, historian, or citizen journalist, figuring out what rights and licenses are needed for a 12-year-old government video could be a bureaucratic nightmare, creating a financial and legal barrier to access. The only immediate access granted is limited to a narrow group—representatives of U.S. press, scholars, and members of Congress—who can examine English-language materials at the Department of State, but not the general public.

What This Means for Everyday Accountability

This bill effectively puts a 12-year gag order on a significant chunk of government communication. If the USAGM produces content that is misleading, inaccurate, or politically biased, the American public, journalists, and historians will be blocked from reviewing it for over a decade. This lack of timely transparency makes it nearly impossible to hold the agency accountable for the narratives it presents to the world on our behalf. For anyone concerned about how our government uses media and messaging, especially abroad, this mandatory delay is a serious step backward for transparency.