Public Meeting of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy

July 8, 2010 ~ Matt Armstrong

The US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy will hold a public meeting on July 20, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the conference room of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) located at 1850 K Street, NW., Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20006.

The Commissioners will discuss public diplomacy issues, including measurement of U.S. government public diplomacy efforts.

The Advisory Commission was originally established under Section 604 of the United States Information and Exchange Act of 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1469) and Section 8 of Reorganization Plan Numbered 2 of 1977. It was reauthorized pursuant to Public Law 11-70 (2009), 22 U.S.C. 6553.

The public may attend this meeting as seating capacity allows. To attend this meeting and for further information, please contact Gerald McLoughlin at (202) 632-6570, e-mail: acpdmeeting@state.gov. Any member of the public requesting reasonable accommodation at this meeting should contact Mr. McLoughlin prior to July 15th. Requests received after that date will be considered, but might not be possible to fulfill.

Declaring Independence: an act of public diplomacy

July 4, 2010 ~ Matt Armstrong

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress resolved that the bonds between the British crown and Colonies should be dissolved. This day of decision was the date to be remembered and celebrated. Instead, we celebrate the date of bureaucracy two days later when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

The Declaration was not received on either side of the Atlantic as the declaration of life and liberty it is celebrated today, but as a declaration of grievances, prerogatives, and justification. It was ultimately a document of public diplomacy, written and disseminated to the world to create support for a cause.

As we Americans celebrate the act of diplomacy in public toward European political, economic, and social leaders, we should recall the passages that were critical to the Founders and not the selected text we remember we tend to recall today. Reread the text below as it was intended: a declaration of reason, purpose, a call for support, and ultimately an act of public diplomacy.

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Pincus article on military information activities is part literature review, part ignorance

July 2, 2010 ~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

Once again, Walter Pincus of The Washington Post writes about military information activities. Once again, the esteemed Pincus exposes his lack of knowledge and ability to really investigate and qualitatively report on military information activities. Just as Pincus criticizes the military for expanding into areas it lacks expertise in, the same can be said about Pincus, an internationally influential reporter at a major media outlet.

In a June 29, 2010, article titled “Fine Print: Contractors’ roles in psychological operations raise concerns,” Pincus links the recent debacle of the Rolling Stone article on General Stanley McChrystal with the use of contractors in information-related roles while unfairly mocking the Defense Department’s effort to address fundamental organizational, doctrinal, training, and resourcing challenges.

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Now Media seminar is filling up

July 2, 2010 ~ Matt Armstrong

The Now Media training seminar by the MountainRunner Institute is nearly full. This all-day event takes place next week, July 6, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Tickets are still available, but not many. More information and registration can be found here: http://nowmedia.eventbrite.com.

As a special offer (and in part online experiment), I’ve made two tickets available at a special lower-than-the-now-expired Early Bird rate. Use the link above and enter the discount code "M100" or click here to register now to receive the discounted rate. These tickets are first come, first served, so if the website disallows the use of the code, these two particular tickets are already gone.

Whether or not you will be attending the event, please take a moment to fill out a pre-event survey to help us shape this fourth-generation event.

Visit http://nowmedia.eventbrite.com for more information on the seminar.