A small collection of links you may find interesting.
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Guest Post: Engaging Opinion Leaders for Social Change
By Nina Keim
Word of mouth has always been central to documentary films. Whether in the 19th century where the Lumière brothers needed publicity for their innovative films or in 2004 when Michael Moore got people talking about his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. And yet, documentary films advocating for social issues often struggle to mobilize a public around an issue. One major problem is that documentary films attract audiences that are already highly interested in the issue while failing to attract non-engaged audiences. This is specifically true in today’s media environment where the number of news outlets rises every day and people can tailor their media exposure to their individual interests. Moreover, there is an increased need for specialized promotion tactics for social-issue documentaries to actively engage the audience and ultimately impact social change. Documentary filmmakers are challenged to find an adequate strategy to communicate their issue to those who are not active, engaged and interested.
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Event: 8th Annual Information Operations Europe
8th Annual Information Operations Europe
Delivering Effects through Influence Activity
June 22 – 24, London
The human terrain has proven hugely important in current conflicts and the capabilities required to influence an audience have seen major developments in recent years. The employment of private sector expertise and new media tools such as online social networking have opened up new opportunities for the IO community, yet the challenges of developing a coherent and culturally astute message remain. Messages must also be coordinated in an often complex, coalition environment and the issue of Measurement of Effect still represents a significant obstacle to progress.
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New GAO Report on Public Diplomacy is out (Updated)
U.S. Public Diplomacy: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight, GAO-09-679SP, May 27, 2009. Download here (PDF, 566kb) or read online here.
Highlights:
The United States’ current national communication strategy lacks a number of desirable characteristics identified by GAO, such as a clear definition of the problem, desired results, and a delineation of agency roles and responsibilities. …
The United States’ current national communication strategy lacks a number of desirable characteristics identified by GAO, such as a clear definition of the problem, desired results, and a delineation of agency roles and responsibilities. …
State faces a number of human capital challenges that influence the effectiveness of its public diplomacy operations. …
Security concerns around the world have led to building practices and personnel policies that have limited the ability of local populations to interact with Americans inside and outside the embassy. …
[GAO] provided a draft of this report for review and comment to State, BBG, USAID, and DOD. Each agency declined to provide formal comments. State, BBG, and USAID provided technical comments, which we incorporated in the report, as appropriate.
The report includes a Strategic Communication (not “public diplomacy”) budget breakdown:
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Going Global Means Thinking Domestic Too
Finally we may actually begin moving beyond bureaucratic structures based on quaint beliefs of US and non-US vectors and audiences. At the Online WSJ, Cam Simpson writes about some of these important changes. From Obama Revamps National Security Posts:
President Barack Obama is merging the domestic and foreign sides of the White House national-security team, effectively eliminating a division created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. …
The president said Tuesday that the change reflects "the fundamental truth that the challenges of the 21st century are increasingly unconventional and transnational, and therefore demand a response that effectively integrates all aspects of American power." …
Retired Marine Gen. James Jones, who heads the NSC, said foreign and domestic distinctions are often moot. He also suggested the prior system might have blinded officials to imminent danger. …
Among the other shifts at the NSC, a new entity, dubbed the Global Engagement Directive, will aim to coordinate public diplomacy, foreign assistance and international communications at a single White House desk.
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Are you monitoring the Now Media environment?
Ah, the days when your public affairs or public relations department could sit back and watch the wire for potentially adverse headlines that you could formulate a response after several meetings over the next day. The world isn’t so simple or, more to the point, so slow.
Simply put, you can’t ignore new media just like you can’t ignore old media as both intermingle in each other’s world amplifying “news” (quotes intentional), creating reach as information shoots around the world through radio (even on the back of motorcycle), television, in print, SMS, let alone Twitter. That same information is persistent, hanging around and available on YouTube and through Google.
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Updating the Under Secretary Incumbency Chart
Judith McHale was sworn in as Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs this morning of May 26, 2009. This means it’s finally time to update the Under Secretary tracking spreadsheet.
| Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy | Sworn In | Resigned | Days in Office | Days Position Vacant | Total Days | % Vacant |
| Evelyn Lieberman (Clinton) | 10/1/1999 | 1/20/2001 | 477 | |||
| 1/21/2001 | 10/2/2001 | 254 | ||||
| Charlotte Beers (Bush) | 10/2/2001 | 3/28/2003 | 542 | |||
| 3/29/2003 | 12/16/2003 | 262 | ||||
| Margaret Tutwiler | 12/16/2003 | 6/30/2004 | 197 | |||
| 7/1/2004 | 7/29/2005 | 393 | ||||
| Karen P. Hughes | 7/29/2005 | 12/14/2007 | 868 | |||
| 12/15/2007 | 6/4/2008 | 172 | ||||
| James K. Glassman | 6/5/2008 | 1/16/2009 | 225 | |||
| 1/17/2009 | 1/20/2009 | 3 | ||||
| 1/21/2009 | 5/25/2009 | 124 | ||||
| Judith McHale (Obama) | 5/26/2009 | 1 | ||||
| Since USIA-State Merger | 2310 | 1208 | 3518 | 34% | ||
| Bush Administration | 1832 | 1084 | 2916 | 37% | ||
| Obama Administration | 1 | 124 | 125 | 99% | ||
| Today: | 5/26/2009 |
Now can we set a timer on when the deeply problematic bureaucratic and functional division between public affairs and public diplomacy within the Under Secretary’s office will be eliminated? Will Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley work for the Under Secretary who does have the “and Public Affairs” in her title? I suppose it depends on the direction and empowerment of “R”, which remains unclear but there are signs it could change sooner than later…
Event: Smart Power, New Media and Public Diplomacy
MITRE Corporation launches a new lecture series titled “Smart Power”. First up is Jeremy Curtin, Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), on May 27, from 9:00 to 10:00 am. His presentation, “Smart Power, New Media and Public Diplomacy,” will be webcast live at http://www.cpcwebcast.com/state.
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Event: Journalists’ Roundtable Discussion on Afghanistan and Pakistan
Invite-only
Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Moderated By:
Bob Schieffer
Anchor, CBS News’ Face the Nation
Panelists:
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Associate Editor, Washington Post; Author, Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Lara Logan
Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent & 60 Minutes Correspondent, CBS News
Hisham Melhem
Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Arabiya
David Sanger
Chief Washington Correspondent, New York Times
Public Diplomacy: Books, Articles, Websites #45
Courtesy of Bruce Gregory, Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University:
May 20, 2009
Intended for teachers of public diplomacy and related courses, here is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.
Bruce Gregory
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Media and Public Affairs
George Washington University
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Off topic: updates on some of my friends…
Blogging will resume shortly. After several days in Ankara, Turkey, presenting at the NATO Center of Excellence Department Against Terrorism – subject: Treating Terrorism as the Propaganda Act It Is – I came home to be a dad (taking care of / enjoying the kids on Friday) and a husband (painting, sanding and priming metal stairs, grouting, plumbing, etc).
As author Dave Berry said, not writing is easy and it gets easier the more you don’t write. So, I’ll start of this first post in a while with something completely different: updates from friends that have nothing to do with public diplomacy or strategic communication.
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A few reading recommendations while I’m traveling this week…
I’m traveling this week so it is very unlikely there will be any new posts on the blog. In the meantime, I recommend the posts below. Also, feel free to review and comment on previous posts here:
- A major setback in the war of ideas by Peter Feaver. First serious re-dress of Thom Shanker’s odd article that read more like a hit piece than serious journalism. Left unanswered is Feaver’s question: ok, so now how will Defense connect with State, especially Public Diplomacy, and the rest of Government? Also, serious questions remain how Michèle Flournoy plans reshape policy to satisfy the requirements Secretary Gates has established.
- Be sure to check out this blogger dialogue: Marc Lynch responding to Jim Glassman responding to Marc Lynch.
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PSYOP for everyone by Chris Paul. Be sure to check out the comments.
- Recommended: WILL AMERICA’S VOICE STAY SILENCED? by Mitch Polman.
Turning a missed opportunity into a negative (Updated)
Read U.S. Running Out of Time to Join Shanghai Expo by Glenn Kessler in the Washington Post. This story is a window in the Bush Administration’s view of public diplomacy and, unfortunately, the failure to aggressively prioritize and repair public diplomacy since January 20th.
Also read Adam Minter’s post at Shanghai Scrap about the debacle (h/t Jim Fallows):
Late yesterday afternoon Expo 2010 organizers announced that all national pavilion construction work must begin by June 30. Those who miss the deadline will not be allowed to build their own pavilions, and must instead seek space in a “standardized” pavilion or use a common pavilion. The statement didn’t single out any particular country, but the target of this ultimatum is unmistakably the United States which, along with Andorra and Columbia, is the only country with Chinese diplomatic relations that has not confirmed for the Expo – and perhaps the only nation to have missed multiple fundraising and construction deadlines (set by itself, no less). …
… the authorized US pavilion group has only raised $1.5 million of their $61 million budget. The poor fundraising record only hints at the recent disarray and disagreements that have plagued the inexperienced US effort.
And it’s not the only point of disagreement on fundraising that exists within the authorized group, either. Late last month, in two telephone calls for a story that I published in the Atlantic, co-chair Nick Winslow claimed that the “authorized” group had borrowed money from the Chinese government to pay for the pavilion design and site preparation work after it had run out of money (a story that Winslow has told to others). Then, today, in the same Washington Post story, the authorized group claims, instead, that a “Chinese construction company provided the funds for engineering work.” It’s worth noting that the Expo 2010 organizing committee is a branch of the Chinese government, and it maintains a list of “preferred” service providers, including a large number of state-owned construction firms. Presumably, a private firm isn’t going to extend credit to a US non-profit that’s shown itself incapable of raising money – unless somebody is guaranteeing the loan.
Event: Strategic Communications in Countries Emerging from Violent Conflict
Details for the event “Strategic Communications in Countries Emerging from Violent Conflict” are below.
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Some media-related headlines for your enjoyment
With my attention and energy currently on the divide between New and Old Media as I push a new aggregate of Now Media, here are a few relevant headlines you may find interesting.
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Recommended Reading: Cull on Lugar’s leadership in America’s leaderless Public Diplomacy
Read Nick Cull’s post on the strategic pause that is today’s American public diplomacy, Lugar To The Rescue: Senate Committee Backs ‘Science Envoy’ Plan:
Ralph Waldo Emerson famously lamented "How much of human life is lost in waiting" and observers of U.S. public diplomacy these last few months could be forgiven for saying the same thing. While other areas of government have something to show for the first one-hundred days of the Obama administration, formal public diplomacy initiatives have been hard to find. The president himself has led the way admirably with his interview on Al Arabiya, a Nowruz message to Iran and public rejection of landmark Bush excesses, but the Department of State has been slow to follow up. This stands in stark contrast to the crescendo of web 2.0 activity that marked the final months of James Glassman’s tenure as Under Secretary. Indeed, a range of initiatives planned, approved and funded during the Glassman period have been held in limbo pending the arrival of the new Under Secretary, Judith McHale. Bureaucrats are always timid during transitions. This being so, it is especially heartening to see the leadership coming from the Senate in the form of initiatives from the ranking minority member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Dick Lugar.
Guest Post: PSYOP for everyone
By Christopher Paul
An Army intelligence officer I met recently at a conference related an anecdote to me about the psychological operations (PSYOP) personnel his team was co-located with on a previous deployment. He shared that the PSYOPers would get upset when they perceived the actions of maneuver elements as impinging on (or ignoring) their domain: “They can’t do that without talking to us, that’s a PSYACT [Psychological Operations action]!”[1] The intel guys would overhear this and then tease them about their protective approach to influence.
New Rules of Engagement
Recommended reading at the Times of India: New Rules of Engagement by Ramesh Thakur.
Today’s global environment is more complex and demanding than in 1947. Consider the vocabulary and metaphors of the new age: Srebrenica, Rwanda, DRC, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, East Timor, Darfur; child soldiers, ethnic cleansing, blood diamonds, 9/11, regime change, Islamophobia, HIV/AIDS, climate change; Microsoft, Google, iPod, Blackberry, Facebook, Twitter; metrosexual, heteropolitan, localitarian the list is endless.
New York Times’ Policy on Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites
From PoynterOnline, advice by The New York Times’ assistant managing editor who oversees journalist standards on using Facebook. Here’s the gist: you’re always representing your employer and what you say and do and “friend” can shape perceptions in unpredictable and potentially adverse ways.
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Remembering that it’s not about you
One of the great ironies of the last several years has been the complaint that the so-called Madison Avenue approach to public diplomacy was a failure. It wasn’t a failure because neither Hughes nor Beers really practiced the Madison Avenue approach. Instead, they attempted to brand America as they felt it should be branded. Of course, branding wasn’t the problem. (It should be noted that Beers was hired by Secretary Powell to rebrand the State Department, but this was pre-9/11 and it was to make sure the American public knew the full extent of what the Department was doing.)