Coming Events:
Friday, September 12, 7:00 – 9:00 pm — “Clash of Civilizations or Common Ground: A Town Hall on U.S.-Islamic World Relations.” The George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E Street, NW, Room 213.
Speakers:
Hafez Al-Mirazi, Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Jazeera Television
Husain Haqqani, Visiting Scholar, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Karl Inderfurth, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Elliott School
William Nash, John Vessey Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Sponsors: The Elliott School of International Affairs, GWU; The Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution; Dialogues: Islamic World~US~The West; and Americans for Informed Democracy.
No RSVP Required
Friday, September 19, 9:30 – 4:00, “The Military and the Media — Ready for Prime Time in the Next Conflict.” National Defense University, Marshall Hall, Fort McNair, Washington, DC.
Visit NDU’s website for information on panelists and topics. Registration fee: $30
Friday, September 19, 6:00 – 7:30 — Voice of America Exhibit Opening at George Washington University. School of Media and Public Affairs, 805 21st Street, NW. (H and 21st St., NW)
Voice of America and the Radio History Society have collaborated to install a VOA exhibit at the entrance to The George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium (home of CNN’s Crossfire).
RSVP by Sept. 17 at use@gwu.edu or by phone at (202) 994-0779.
Public Diplomacy Council members in print and online:
John H. Brown. “The Tangled Tale of 1,000 Iraqi Schools,” The Washington Post, August 31, 2003. John looks at contrasting official announcements on improving Iraq’s schools.
John compiles a daily “Public Diplomacy Press Review” available free of charge via e-mail. He can be reached at johnhbrown30@hotmail.com.
Steven Livingston. “Diplomacy in the New Information Environment,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Summer/Fall 2003, pp 111-116. Steve analyzes challenges to diplomats and policymakers from two principal sources: (1) new information technologies that create a more transparent information environment and (2) political advocacy organizations that use these technologies, often in collaboration with media, to advocate policy positions.
Dell Pendergrast. “Letters to the Editor,” The Atlantic Monthly, September, 2003. Dell’s letter applauds much of Robert Kaplan’s July cover story, “Supremacy by Stealth,” takes issue with Kaplan’s assertion about USIA’s demise, and discusses the value and neglect of public diplomacy.
Available now in print and soon at AtlanticOnline.
Other materials of interest:
Al Jazeera.net. Al Jazeera’s English language website is now online.
Giovanna Barradori. Philosophy in a Time of Terror: Dialogues with Jurgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003). Vassar College philosopher Barradori interviewed Habermas and Derrida in New York shortly after 9/11. These interviews, accompanied by her lucid critical essays, address key questions for public diplomacy. “Is the political and philosophical notion of dialogue, so crucial to every diplomatic strategy, a universal tool of communication? Or is dialogue a culturally specific practice?” “. . . [U]nder what circumstances is dialogue a feasible option?” “What are we to do with the question of tolerance?” “As more avenues of global participation are opening up, why does the threshold of tolerance seem to recede?” “Is the affluent First World honest in presenting and promoting itself as tolerant?”
Manuel Castells. “Manuel Castells to Join USC Annenberg Faculty.” Renowned communications scholar Castells, author of the landmark trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture, joins USC Annenberg this fall. In an email interview Castells discusses his recent research and looks ahead at information age trends.
Maia Jachimowicz. “Foreign Students and Exchange Visitors,” Migration Policy Institute, September 1, 2003. Describes the foreign student and exchange visitor population in the U.S. and recent policy developments affecting them. (Courtesy of Ellen Frost)
John Maxwell Hamilton and Eric Jenner. “The New Foreign Correspondence,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2003, pp. 131-138. Hamilton and Jenner discuss ways in which the Internet has opened the international news market to a broader, more active audience, how technologies are changing the production and consumption of news, and changes in the traditional model of foreign correspondence. (Courtesy of Dan Kuehl)
Charles Layton. “Miller Brouhaha,” American Journalism Review, August/September 2003. AJR contributing editor Layton takes a long look at New York TImes journalist Judith Miller’s reporting on the search for WMD in Iraq, critical coverage of Miller’s reporting by other journalists and news organizations, Miller’s defense of her reporting, uses of her stories by Bush Administration officials in making the public case for war, Miller’s experiences as an embedded reporter in Iraq, and deficiencies in overall media coverage of the WMD issue.
Mark Lynch. “Taking Arabs Seriously,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2003, pp. 81-94. Williams College professor Mark Lynch argues the Bush Administration’s “tone deaf” approach to the Middle East “reflects a dangerous misreading of Arab public opinion.” Contains thoughtful assessments of the independent media outlets that are transforming the region and and how U.S. public diplomacy should engage the”new Arab public sphere.”
Dana Milbank and Claudia Deans. “Hussein Link to 9/11 Lingers in Many Minds,” The Washington Post, September 6, 2003. Examines U.S. public opinion, the deep distrust of Saddam Hussein, and what some observers see as exploitation by the Bush Administration communicators of an implied a link between Hussein and the events of 9/11.
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Online. “Blair Government’s Row with the BBC,” Terence Smith interviews New York Times London Bureau Chief Warren Hoge, August 28, 2003.
To receive e-mail notices of Terence Smith media pieces scheduled to appear on the NewsHour, send a message to listserv@pbs.org <mailto:listserv@pbs.org> with the following line in the body of the message: subscribe mediawatch-d
Jay Rosen. “Terms of Authority,”Columbia Journalism Review, September/October, 2003. Rosen, chair of the journalism department at NYU and author of What Are Journalists For? examines changes in relationships between publics and the authority of elite journalism resulting from increased global interactivity.
U.S. General Accounting Office, U.S. Public Diplomacy: State Department Expands Efforts but Faces Significant Challenges, September 2003. Two years in the making, this 74-page report contains findings and recommendations on (1) State’s PD resources and programs, (2) whether State has an overall strategy for its PD programs, (3) how State measures PD effectiveness, and (4) other significant challenges in executing PD programs.
U.S. General Accounting Office. U.S. International Broadcasting: New Strategic Approach Focuses on Reaching Large Audiences but Lacks Measurable Program Objectives, July 2003. This 54-page study examines: (1) the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ marketing strategy and program objectives, (2) recent initiatives (Radio Sawa, Radio Farda, and Afghanistan Radio Network), (3) whether BBG has adequately addressed how many language services it can carry effectively, and (4) levels of overlap and duplication in VOA and surrogate services.
Matt Welch. “Blog World and its Gravity” and “Media Go Blogging,” Columbia Journalism Review, September, 2003. CJR’s cover story assesses the emerging world of weblogs, compares them with traditional “alternative” media, and looks at how some big media, broadcast and print, see openings and opportunities in blogs.
David Zarefsky. Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning. Northwestern University professor Zarefsky offers 24 lectures on “communication that seeks to persuade others through reasoned judgment.” Available for purchase or rent (audio and/or video) from [www.teach12.com The Teaching Company]. Tel: 1-800-832-2412