Author: GW

Other Resources of Interest

W. Lance Bennett. “Operation Perfect Storm: The Press and the Iraq War,” Political Communication Report, International Communication Association & American Political Science Association, Vol. 13 No. 3, Fall 2003. Bennett analyzes press cooperation in implementing government communications strategies in the run up to the 2003 Iraq war. (Courtesy of Donna Oglesby)

Andrew Collier. “Devil You Know.” Letter to the Editor, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2004, pp. 190-192. The Beijing correspondent for the South China Morning Post makes a case for established news organizations in differing with John Maxwell Hamilton’s and Eric Jenner’s analysis of new web-based media in international news. (“The New Foreign Correspndence,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2003).

Simone Chambers. “Discourse and Democratic Practices,” in Stephen K. White, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Habermas, (Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 233-259. Chambers examines Jurgen Habermas’ communicative action theory in the context of what it means to be a discursive rather than a strategic actor. Discourse, she argues, is essentially open ended deliberation in which the goal is mutual understanding. Decision rules place constraints on dialogue leading to closure. A careful balance must be struck between deliberation and decision-making.

Barbara Crossette. “Media and Foreign Policy,” Great Decisions 2004, Foreign Policy Association, January 2004. In the FPA’s forthcoming annual publication, Crossette asserts that despite a flood of new sources of information, most Americans pay little attention to foreign policy, making it easier for the government and the media to manipulate public opinion. Excerpts from the article and purchase information available online.

Jeffrey Gedmin and Craig Kennedy. “Selling America — Short,” The National Interest, Winter, 2003/04, pp. 71-75. Gedmin, Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, and Kennedy, President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, examine a “U.S. public diplomacy crisis” in the heart of Europe. The authors call for a “serious campaign to open European minds” drawing on the Congress of Cultural Freedom and other “lessons from the Cold War.”

Bill Katovsky and Timothy Carlson. Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq, The Lyons Press, 2003. In this collection of 60 interviews, embedded correspondents and photographers provide assessments of their work and personal accounts of their coverage of the Iraq war. Includes an interview with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Bryan Whitman. (Courtesy of Steve Livingston)

Jerrold Keilson. “Public Diplomacy and U.S. Foreign Policy,” Great Decisions 2004, Foreign Policy Association, January 2004. The next edition of FPA’s annual publication on key foreign policy issues includes a look at public diplomacy by Jerrold Keilson. Excerpts from the article and purchase information available online.

William P. Kiehl. “Can Humpty Dumpty be Saved,” American Diplomacy.org. Bill Kiehl looks at “the failure of United States public diplomacy” and offers recommendations for organizational change in the Department of State.

A. Michael Noll, ed. Crisis Communications: Lessons from September 11, Roman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003. Sixteen contributors look at traditional mass media (radio, TV, print), newer media (Internet, email), conventional telecommunications (telephones, cell phones) and interpersonal communication in emergency situations.

Project for Excellence in Journalism. “Media and Iraq.” An online archive of links to over 500 stories collected by PEJ on press performance from January to May 2003. Links arranged by topic.

Pew Case Study Center, Georgetown University, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. George Washington University’s Public Diplomacy Institute hosted a case study workshop on December 10, 2003 organized by the Public Diplomacy Council’s Juliet Antunes Sablosky and Charles Dolgas, Director of the GUISD Pew Case Study program. Teachers of public diplomacy and related subjects attended from George Washington University, Georgetown University, American University, and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications. The workshop focussed on case teaching and writing — and the need for case studies on public diplomacy.

Scholars and practitioners interested in writing public diplomacy case studies should contact Charles Dolgas, Director of Publications, at 202-965-5735, x204 or dolgasc@georgetown.edu

Lori Robertson. “The British Invasion,” American Journalism Review, December/January 2004. AJR’s managing editor Lori Robertson looks at the BBC’s Iraq war coverage and whether “the BBC offers a more aggressive and complete approach to the news, or a tilt to the left’? or both?” Includes views of former BBC World Service managing director John Tusa.

Richard Rorty. “Humiliation or Solidarity?” Dissent, Fall 2003, pp. 23-26. Stanford philosopher Richard Rorty questions the tone and substance of U.S. foreign policy and argues that “public opinion must force politicians to be more idealistic.” His article is cast as an American reaction to a joint statement by Jurgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida (published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 31, 2003 and in English in the September 2003 issue of Constellations) urging a common European response to America’s “hegemonic unilateralism.”

Schneider, Cynthia. Diplomacy that Works: ‘Best Practices’ in Cultural Diplomacy, Center for Arts and Culture, 2003. Schneider, Associate Professor of Art History at Georgetown University and former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, examines the role and value of cultural diplomacy and provides illustrative examples of successful initiatives. Online at the Center’s Cultural Diplomacy Initiative website. (Courtesy of Juliet Antunes Sablosky)

Sean O Siochru. Global Governance of Information and Communications Technologies: Implications for Transnational Civil Society Networking, Social Science Research Council, November 2003. This report finds freedom for many transnational civil society organizations to engage in networking and serious constraints attributable to governance processes and institutions.

Jeffrey Stout. Democracy Tradition, Princeton University Press, 2004. Princeton professor Jeffrey Stout, a leading voice in the tradition of John Dewey and American pragmatism, examines critical issues at the intersection of religious thought, political theory, and philosophy. Teachers of public diplomacy will find useful his discussion of democratic norms and terrorism, the public role of religious arguments in a post 9/11 world, and political discourse across cultural boundaries.

Mark Surnam and Katherine Reilly.[www.ssrc.org/programs/itic Appropriating the Internet for Social Change,] Social Science Research Council, November 2003. This SSRC study looks at use of networked technologies by transnational civil society organizations. The authors cite innovative civil society applications but conclude most organizations have not moved much beyond e-mail and basic websites to “strategic use” of the Internet and other emerging network technologies.

Andres Szente. A New Mandate for Philanthropy: U.S. Foundation Support for International Arts Exchanges, Center for Arts and Culture, 2003. Columbia University’s Andres Szente analyzes data on grants for cultural exchange by leading American foundations. Online at the Center’s Cultural Diplomacy Initiative website. (Courtesy of Juliet Antunes Sablosky)

U.S. Institute of Peace, Grant Solicitation, Public Diplomacy. “What role does public diplomacy plays including statements of public policy, professional and educational exchanges, international visitors programs, and media strategies targeted at the “other” populations play in bridging or expanding religious divides? What tools are available to evaluate the impact of public diplomacy?”

Application deadline: March 1, 2004. Notification: September 30, 2004.

“Most awards fall in the range of $25,000 to $45,000, although somewhat larger grants are also awarded. The amount of any grant is based on the proposed budget and on negotiations with successful applicants. When applicants are employed by an eligible institution, such as a college or university, the Institute prefers that grants be made to the institution rather than to the individual.” Additional information is on the USIP website.

“In on the take-offs and not just the crash landings”

Scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy often attribute this phrase to former USIA Director Edward R. Murrow, who indeed used it to make the case for putting USIA at the policymaking table during the Kennedy Administration. The phrase was used earlier by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg in calling for bipartisanship during the Truman Administration. Vandenberg attributed the phrase to Harold Stassen.

“As Murrow saw it, the important thing was not that the USIA Director, as a member (sic) of the National Security Council, should argue for or against policy on psychological grounds. It was that he should be informed in advance of policies in the making, and take part in their formulation. As he frequently stated it, the USIA should be “in on the take-offs, and not just the crash landings,” like that of the U-2 spy plane shot down in Siberia.” Alexander Kendrick, Prime Time: The Life of Edward R. Murrow, 1969, p. 456.

“. . . I don’t care to be involved in the crash-landing unless I can be in on the take-off. Harold Stassen, comment on bipartisanship, attributed to him by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg.” Suzy Platt, ed. Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service, 1989, pp. 260-261.

“Once again, it was the procedure of a hurried call to senators and a last-minute meeting to inform them of an impending development or of the execution of a policy, and not to consult on the formation of policy. Vandenberg then and thereafter insisted that real bipartisanship meant consultation in advance and not a perfunctory reading to legislators of an impending press announcement or policy statement . . . Stassen’s comment, the Senator used to say, was such a good statement of the Republican case that he wished it were his.” Arthur H. Vandenberg, Jr., ed. The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg, 1952, p. 230.

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

Public Diplomacy Council Members in Print and on the Web

Wilson Dizard, Jr. “Telling America’s Story,” American Heritage, August/September, 2003. With anecdotes, pictures, and the perspective of 30 years in USIA, Wilson looks at the Agency’s mission and continuing influence.

Wilson Dizard, Jr. “Remembering USIA,” Foreign Service Journal, July/August, 2003. A retrospective on the occasion of the Agency’s 50th anniversary. Available online in pdf format.

Princeton Lyman. Interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, online consulting editor for the Council on Foreign Relations, cfr.org, July 14, 2003. Lyman, the Council’s Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies, discusses President Bush’s July 8-12 trip to Africa, Liberia, and requests from U.N. and African leaders for American peacekeepers.

Sherry Mueller and William Rugh. Panelists at the Heritage Foundation Forum, “Regaining America’s Voice Overseas,” July 10, 2003. Other participants included Seth Cropsey, Edwin J. Feulner Jr., Alan Heil, Mark Helmke, and Steve Johnson. Available on Real Audio/Real Video at the Heritage website.

A print version of Sherry’s remarks on exchanges, the International Visitor program, and the April 16 PD Forum Sustaining Exchanges While Securing Borders is available on request in MS Word.

Other Books, Articles, and Websites

Anne Applebaum. “Parallel Universes,” The Washington Post, July 23, 2003. Looking at coverage of Tony Blair’s speech to Congress, Applebaum argues media in different cultures reflect “alternative versions of reality” not just different opinions on the news — with consequences for how we think about globalized information and “real time” information.

Council on Foreign Relations. “Embedded Journalists in Iraq: Reality TV or Desert Mirage?” July 29, 2003. Moderated by New York Times Pentagon correspondent Thomas Shanker. Panelists: Lt. Col. Richard Long, Coordinator of embedded journalists for the U.S. Marine Corps. William Branigin, Washington Post correspondent, embedded journalist, and John Donvan, ABC News Nightline correspondent, non-embedded journalist.

Robert Dodaro. “Eloquent Lies, Just War and the Politics of Persuasion: Reading Augustine’s City of God in a ‘Postmodern World,'” Augustinian Studies, 25, 1994, pp. 77-138. Dodaro puts Augustine’s critique of deception for political and military ends in the context of his “often missed” critique of Roman religious and social institutions as carriers of ruling class ideology. Contains an analysis of Augustine’s views on Rome’s use of “mass media” in the context of ethical writing on the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Dodaro atypically casts Augustine in politically progressive tones and situates Noam Chomsky in the Augustinian tradition.

Greta Morris. “Morris Confirmed as US Ambassador to Marshalls,” East-West Center, July 2, 2003. Greta moves from PAO Jakarta, where her work included the US/Indonesian Telecast “Common Values, Common Challenges” (co-sponsored by State and GWU’s Public Diplomacy Institute, February 2003) to arranging appointments for journalist Tom Friedman that led to good columns on public diplomacy.

John Gittings.“Beijing is Losing the People’s War in Cyberspace,” YaleGlobal Online, July 21, 2003. Gittings contends an emerging civil society is gaining more freedom and “the sheer volume of people taking to the Web to discuss taboo subjects is overwhelming the government.” YaleGlobal Online, a publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, is an excellent website for articles and papers on globalization issues.

Walter Isaacson. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2003. Isaacson’s biography follows Edmund S. Morgan’s Benjamin Franklin published in 2002. Both books discuss Franklin’s years as a public diplomat in London and Paris. Isaacson, former Chairman of CNN and managing editor of Time magazine, devotes attention to Franklin’s media relations, use of anonymous press items, association with philosophical and scientific organizations, “gambit of drawing power from American idealism” as a “public diplomacy strategy,” and role in the high culture and high politics of 18th century Europe. Morgan is useful for his chapter length analysis of Franklin’s thinking on “the importance of public opinion.”

Anthony Kuhn. “Chinese Learn True Scope of SARS From the Internet,” USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review, May 28, 2003. How the government-controlled media downplayed the extent of the epidemic and the number of fatalities. (Former VOA staffer Josh Fouts is co-founder and executive editor of the Online Journalism Review.)

Yale Richmond. Cultural Exchange and the Cold War: Raising the Iron Curtain, University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. Drawing on scholarly literature, Russian archives, interviews with Americans and Russians, and his years of foundation and Foreign Service experience, Yale provides a comprehensive, thoughtful, and penetrating analysis of the influence of exchanges on the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. (Courtesy of McKinney Russell)

U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. The New Diplomacy: Utilizing Innovative Communication Concepts that Recognize Resource Constraints, July, 2003. This 6-page Commission report contains recommendations on American Presence Posts, American Corners, and Virtual Consulates. Online at the Commission’s website.

U.S. Department of State. State’s International Information Programs website has a new look. Intended for overseas audiences, this valuable website continues to be an excellent resource for U.S. students and journalists.

Students also use the periodic “Issue Focus” reports on State’s Foreign Media Reactionpage.

State’s Foreign Press Centers website is useful for its links to: briefing transcripts, Congressional Reference Service and other government reports, a new page on the 2004 elections, and weblinks for journalists,

U.S. Department of State. Outcome Assessment of the Institute for Representative Government (IRG) Program. Evaluation of programs “to enhance understanding of the US political system and the US Congress among foreign parliamentarians and government officials from developing or newly established democracies.” Study conducted by the American Institutes for Research of Washington, DC. Available online in pdf format. (Courtesy of Ted Knicker, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.)

— One page summary

— Executive summary (8 pages)

— Summaries for other program evaluations

R.S. Zaharna. “The Unintended Consequences of Crisis Public Diplomacy: American Public Diplomacy in the Arab World,” Foreign Policy in Focus, Interhemispheric Resource Center, June 2003. Zaharna argues that unless Washington officials address why initial public diplomacy efforts failed after 9/11, the same result may occur in future but with greater consequences.

R.S. Zaharna and Mark Heaphy. “Letters and Comments,” Progressive Response. Exchange on Zaharna’s article. Interesting conversation on cognitive styles, cultural differences, how Americans and others perceive and sequence facts — and grasp “truth.” (Courtesy of Ellen Frost)

— “Letters and Comments” [Scroll down page to “Analytical Shortcomings in Analysis of Public Diplomacy.”]

Brent Cunningham, “Re-thinking Objectivity” Columbia Journalism Review, July/August, 2003.
Lengthy discussion of questions relating to journalistic principles of “objectivity” and “truth” in the post 9/11 and Iraq war contexts. Draws on the thinking of James Carey, Herbert Gans, E.J. Dionne, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and others. Looks at reliance on official sources, computer assisted research, nonstop news cycles, and the Bush Administration’s case for the Iraq war.

Claes de Vreese, Communicating Europe: Next Generation Democracy. British Council & Weber Shandwick Public Affairs, April 2003.
Based on a study of broadcast media across the EU, de Vreese concludes that too often the EU’s strategy is to focus on sending out pro-European messages, rather than presenting the EU as a political system with room for disagreement, discussion and debate. Contains recommendations on how the EU must change including the redesign of institutions to take account of political communication and news framing. Available at the Foreign Policy Centre‘s website.

DiploFoundation, Web-Management for International Organisations, Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, Malta, 2003,
Paperback, 40 pages. Summaries of papers presented at the International Conference on Web-Management for International Organisations. Web management practitioners and decision makers in international organisations share their experiences and discuss issues of common interest.

Alan Heil, Voice of America: A History, Columbia University Press, 2003, pp. 538.
Alan’s detailed and carefully researched “insider’s story” of “the transformation of VOA from a propaganda organ to a respected source of information, from shortwave in World War II to multimedia in the twenty-first century, from a wartime base of relatively few listeners in its first weeks to a global network combining radio, television, and the Internet.”

Stephen Hess and Marvin Kalb, eds. The Media and the War on Terrorism, Brookings Institution, 2003. Publication forthcoming. Current and former government officials and broadcast journalists look at post-9/11 media coverage issues. Contributors include Victoria Clarke, Lawrence Eagleburger, Ted Koppel, Bob Schieffer, Daniel Schorr, and James R. Schlesinger. Co-sponsored with Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.

Robert D. Kaplan. “Supremacy by Stealth: Ten Rules for Managing the World,” The Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003, pp. 66-83. Analysis of how the U.S. should operate at a tactical level in managing its “global empire.” Based on Kaplan’s extensive reporting on the role of U.S. Special Forces and his book, Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos, 2001. Kaplan calls for language qualified and media savvy diplomats, more area experts and language specialists inside government, and — as a “strategic imperative” — reinvention of the U.S. Information Agency. (Courtesy of Dell Pendergrast)

Robert D. Kaplan. “The Hard Edge of American Values,” The Atlantic Online. In a lengthy post-publication interview with Elizabeth Shelbourne, Kaplan elaborates on his July/August cover story. “Supremacy by Stealth.” Kaplan elaborates on State’s relevance, State/military relations, the role of the media, and the need to “do information a lot better than we are doing it.”

Pippa Norris. Framing Terrorism: The News Media, Government & the Public, Routlege, 2003. This collection of essays looks at the news framing process and its impact on US foreign and national security policies since 9/11. Contributors include Professors Sean Aday and Kimberly Gross of GWU’s School of Media and Public Affairs. Several chapters are available online. (Courtesy of Donna Oglesby)

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. “U.S. Power and Strategy After Iraq,” Foreign Affairs, July/August, 2003, pp. 60-73. Nye updates key arguments on soft power; US, Iraq, and North Korea policies; and the Bush Administration’s national security strategy with his usual analytical clarity. A convenient summary of central arguments in his The Paradox of American Power: Why the World’s Only Superpower Can’t Go It Alone, 2002.

Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. “Managing the Message.”Transcript of Terence Smith’s Media Watch, May 23, 2003. Smith, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller, and former Reagan deputy chief of staff Michael Deaver look at how the resignation of White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and President Bush’s speech at Mt. Rushmore draw attention to the way the administration projects the president’s image.

Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. “Media Crackdown,” Transcript of Terence Smith’s Media Watch, June 1, 2003. Smith discusses the state of Russian media and President Putin’s closure of Russia’s last remaining independent television broadcaster with Ellen Mickiewicz, a Russian media expert from Duke University, and Yevgeny Kiselyov, former general manager of the now defunct TV-6.

Howard Rheingold. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution: Transforming Cultures and Communities in the Age of Instant Access, Perseus Publishing, 2002. Internet guru Rheingold looks at how the convergence of mobile communications — cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and wireless-paging and Internet-access devices — is driving political and cultural change from Tokyo to Helsinki to Manhattan to Manila. Updated ideas from the author of The Virtual Community,1993.

Rachel Smolkin. “Media Mood Swings,” American Journalism Review, June 2003. Smolkin looks at the media’s Iraq war coverage. Did “news frames” reflect battle field realities and views of active and retired military officers? Or did the media make premature, fascile judgments?

U.S. Department of State. Recent electronic journals online at State’s International Information Program‘s website.

— “Responses to Human Trafficking,” June, 2003.

— “The Changing Face of U.S. Courts,” May, 2003.

— “The Arts in America: New Directions,” April, 2003.

Upcoming

— “American Internationalism,” July, 2003.

— “Agricultural Biotechnology,” August, 2003.

— “Innovations in Democratic Governance,” September, 2003.

Duncan Watts, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. Columbia University and Santa Fe Institute sociologist Duncan Watts analyzes underlying principles of network theory, network structures, and ways in which information spreads (or doesn’t spread) between the nodes of a network — people, neurons, or computers.