Another type of activity that GAO has construed as prohibited by the "publicity or propaganda not authorized by Congress" statute is "covert propaganda," defined as "materials such as editorials or other articles prepared by an agency or its contractors at the behest of the agency and circulated as the ostensible position of parties outside the agency." B-229257, June 10, 1988. A critical element of the violation is concealment of the agency's role in sponsoring the material. Id.
In a 1986 [Reagan] case, the Small Business Administration (SBA) prepared "suggested editorials" and distributed them to newspapers. The editorials urged support of an administration proposal to merge SBA with the Department of Commerce. The editorials were clearly "propaganda." This, however, was not enough to violate the law. The problem was that they were misleading as to their origin. The plan presumably was for a newspaper to print the editorial as its own without identifying it as an SBA document. This, the Comptroller General concluded, went beyond the range of acceptable public information activities and therefore violated the publicity and propaganda law. B-223098, B-223098.2, Oct. 10, 1986.
A similar holding is 66 Comp. Gen. 707 (1987) [Bush 41], involving newspaper articles and editorials in support of Central American policy. The materials were prepared by paid consultants at government request, and published as the work of nongovernmental parties. The decision also found that media visits by Nicaraguan opposition leaders, arranged by government officials but with that fact concealed, constituted another form of "covert propaganda." See also B-129874, Sept. 11, 1978 [Carter] ("canned editorials" and sample letters to the editor in support of Consumer Protection Agency legislation, had they been prepared, would have violated the law).
In B-229257, supra, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prepared a variety of materials critical of the Postal Services "monopoly" on letter class mail, for distribution at a National Press Club breakfast that the Postmaster General was to attend. While the material was unquestionably propaganda, it did not violate the law because it identified the FTC as the source.
(4) Pending legislation: overview:
For over 30 years, from the early 1950s to fiscal year 1984, the following provision was enacted every year:
-
"No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act …shall
be used for publicity or propaganda purposes designed to support or
defeat legislation pending before Congress."[Footnote 332]
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"No part of any funds appropriated in this or any other Act shall be
used by an agency of the executive branch, other than for normal and
recognized executive-legislative relationships, for publicity or
propaganda purposes, and for the preparation, distribution or use of
any kit, pamphlet, booklet, publication, radio, television or film
presentation designed to support or defeat legislation pending before
the Congress, except in presentation to the Congress itself."[Footnote
334]