Several noteworthy links are below the fold. As always, comments are encouraged.

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I do not filter comments on this blog. In fact, all comments are immediately published unless caught by the spam filter, which has on occasion snared the legitimate contribution. Fortunately, this is rare and I always clear the comment when I find it.

Moderation can be useful feature when there is an inordinate amount of spam or contributors with nonsensical statements. The former is managed by a better spam filter and attention to what is posted. The latter, well, is best handled by the same unless you simply want to keep out the riff raff and limit the discussion then you’ll moderate each comment individually.

Newspapers and radios moderate in print and on air comments because of finite resources, be it paper or air time. Blogs, well, they aren’t under the limitation although too many comments and the arguments can get lost in the crowd. So, moderation in the blogosphere has the effect of limiting discourse and creating an impression of elitism: I don’t want your opinion.

I don’t encounter too many blogs were all comments must be approved before posting. I have experienced only two blogs were I did post a comment only to learn (by looking for the comment online) they were rejected by the moderator. The first time was about three years ago and the subject was private military companies.

The second incident was this past week when I posted a rejoinder at the American Foreign Policy Council’s blog about tweeting. I’m not bothered that my comment was rejected, but I did get a laugh that a discussion about public diplomacy that says “public diplomacy and strategic communication are not about total transparency” would censor comments. Well, AFPC practices what they preach.

By the way, this post was based on the comment I submitted.

There seems to be some real consternation over Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy’s tweeting on Twitter. In today’s The Washington Post, Colleen tells why she tweets:

Why did I do it? Not that long ago, communicating diplomat-to-diplomat was enough. Agreements were reached behind closed doors and announced in a manner and degree that suited the schedule and desires of the governments involved, not the general population. In fact, the public was by and large an afterthought. But the proliferation of democracies and the emergence of the round-the-clock media environment has brought an end to those days. Now, governments must communicate not only with their people but also with foreign audiences, including through public diplomacy.

In short, public diplomacy is the art of communicating a country’s policies, values and culture. If diplomats want to engage effectively with people, we first need to listen, then connect and then communicate. In the part of the world that I know and cover, Europe and Eurasia, most people are tuned in to television, and the younger generation is using text messages and the Internet. So, we need to be there, too.

Some criticize the TMI tweets (like the bathing suit) but there are a few who take issue with the basic concept that a public diplomat is, gasp, publically engaging. One such criticism is that “In the absence of such a clear message, we run the risk of our personal communications efforts eclipsing our official ones.” Based on the belief that personal engagement is adjunct to traditional diplomacy dismisses the underlying essence of public diplomacy as a means of direct and indirect engagement of foreign publics in support of national security objectives. Or rather, it dismisses the the underlying essence of what public diplomacy used to be and is once again becoming.

The flitter over Colleen’s twitter is more about the rarity of her exercise and challenges to the concepts of public diplomacy than anything else.

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Finally, some good news on the future of public diplomacy. Read Clinton Moves to Widen Role of State Dept. at The New York Times by Mark Landler and Helene Cooper.

The steps seem intended to strengthen the role of diplomacy after a long stretch, particularly under  Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in which the Pentagon, the vice president’s office and even the intelligence agencies held considerable sway over American foreign policy.

This is a very promising beginning to what appears will be active leadership at the State Department. The emphasis on working with Congress is required and refreshing. It gets very old reading opinion pieces that lament the lack of resources at State while completely ignoring the lack of proponents and evidence of change that would show the necessary change to get more money. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that Under Secretary Jim Glassman has only recently begun asking for more money, but shouldn’t his boss be the one knocking heads in Congress? It’s broke and it needs fixing and without leadership to fix it, more money will be hard to come by.

The only unfortunate thing about the “hit the ground running” approach is I’ve heard from multiple sources that Hillary Clinton’s nomination hearing will take place the same week as the Smith-Mundt Symposium, which is the week before inauguration. Hey, instead of drawing Congress and the media away from the media, perhaps the nominated Secretary of State could swing by the Symposium, on January 13 we will be across the street from the Capitol and the Senate office buildings at First Street and Constitution Avenue…

See also:

• 2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium
• Persuasive politics: Revisit the Smith-Mundt Act, my recent op-ed in The Washington Times
• Who will be the next Under Secretary?
• All a twitter over some tweets

The post on the next Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy sparked comments by some very informed readers. Read and contribute your thoughts.

From Annenberg’s website:

Ernest J. Wilson III , Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication and dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, has been appointed to the team advising President-Elect Barack Obama as he continues to assemble his administration.

Dean Wilson will serve several functions in the transition. He will lead a team reviewing America’s international broadcasting services, including the Voice of America and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He will also be an advisor to the transition team working with the U.S. Department of State on public diplomacy issues.

An expert on global communications issues and sustainable innovation, Dean Wilson is the author of numerous articles and books on the subject, including The Information Revolution and Developing Countries (MIT Press), Negotiating the Net and The Governance of Global Electronic Networks. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, corporations, nongovernmental organizations and governments around the world.

During the presidential campaign, Dean Wilson was a member of the Technology / Media / Telecommunications campaign advisory group, and of the international affairs advisory group. In the Clinton administration he served in the White House as a senior staff member of the National Security Council, where his portfolio included international communications policies. He was also director of the Policy and Planning Unit, Office of the Director, U.S. Information Agency; and deputy director of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission. Dean Wilson is the ranking senior member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, nominated by Presidents Clinton and Bush and confirmed by the Senate. He chairs the Board’s Digital Media Committee.

Beginning December 5, Dean Wilson will take a month-long leave of absence from his position at USC Annenberg to fulfill his appointment. While he is away, Larry Gross, director of USC Annenberg’s School of Communication, will serve as acting dean.

Congratulations, Ernie.