I don't see what the big deal is; VoA broadcasts on FM in many countries - they used to in Russia, even. *We* can do it but they can't?
It's quite easy to ignore such broadcasts if you don't wish to learn anything about the originating country. After all, almost nobody listens to AM radio any more.
WE don't broadcast propaganda. The Chinese DO. The First Amendment doesn't say anything about "We the people" of China. Perhaps, you think the government of CHina is all sweetness and light.
Propaganda is relative. I'm sure the Russians and Chinese didn't care much for us beaming VOA propaganda broadcasts into their territories during the Cold War. Indeed, by all accounts, they did their best to jam them.
Before someone starts pointing fingers, I'm
not arguing that what the Chinese are doing isn't illegal -- it is, by our law. They've skipped a whole bunch of regulatory steps that are required of foreign agents who wish to broadcast in this country.
But I'm also going to assume that if VOA is, today, actually broadcasting on FM stations in other countries, they're on the up and up about it, at least to the extent of identifying themselves as the Voice of America. The broadcasts in question on the Chinese-owned stations were being presented as straight-up news without any identification of their origin.
For those who question ownership of the stations, the Reuters article was pretty clear who controls WCRW:
At WCRW, Beijing holds a direct financial interest in the Washington station’s broadcasts. Corporate records in the United States and China show a Beijing-based subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned radio broadcaster owns 60 percent of an American company that leases almost all of the station’s airtime.
That's not station ownership, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well be. And the FCC should take an interest in who controls the airtime of one of its licensees, particularly if that controller is a foreign agent who's sneaking around behind the scenes and avoiding lawful registration. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."