PD commentary
Selection and commentary by PDC members and authoritative experts in the field
NEW MEDIA MAGIC IN AN INTERNET AGE
Monday, August 14th 2017
Four years ago, a school in a sparsely populated South Carolina county had a dream: “Why not build an on-line bridge via the Internet, so elementary school kids could embark on a common learning experience with their contemporaries in a sister school in Kenya?”
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Alan L. Heil Jr.
Board member
Summary: As a 36-year veteran of the Voice of America (VOA), Alan Heil traveled to more than 40 countries a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, and later as director of News and Current Affairs, deputy director of programs, and deputy director of the nation’s largest publicly-funded overseas multimedia network. Today, VOA reaches more than 125 million people in 44 languages.
...click authors name for more infoAuthor: Alan Heil
Professional Study in a Public Diplomacy Career
Friday, August 11th 2017
Professional Study in a Public Diplomacy Career
Donald M. Bishop
After their initial “entry level” assignments, most Foreign Service Officers in the Public Diplomacy cone begin their careers with one or more overseas tours as an IO, AIO, CAO, ACAO, APAO, or Consulate PAO. These are the assignments that in time lead to becoming an embassy’s Public Affairs Officer, a member of the Country Team, and the Ambassador’s principal advisor on communication and Public Diplomacy.
It’s a hectic time for Public Diplomacy, and officers in these gateway jobs are so busy that the daily path of least resistance may be to “go with the flow” -- to take on one task at a time, to let the usual run of PAS and Embassy staff meetings fill up the weeks, and let Washington’s deadlines order the work.
The down side of this approach is that it’s passive. It forfeits the initiative that wins recognition and advancement. The promotion panels smile on those officers who make their own breaks with a record of active achievement of U.S. goals.
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Donald M. Bishop is the Bren Chair of Strategic Communications at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.
Mr. Bishop served as a Foreign Service Officer – first in the U.S. Information Agency and then in the Department of State – for 31 years. Specializing in Public Diplomacy, political-military affairs, and East Asia, he attained the rank of Minister-Counselor in the career service. He was President of the Public Diplomacy Council from 2013 to 2015 and is now a member of the Board of Directors.
...click authors name for more infoAuthor: Donald M. Bishop
Public Diplomacy's Oral History Interviews
Sunday, July 30th 2017
Public Diplomacy’s Oral History Interviews
Donald M. Bishop
It’s a commonplace that most historical studies of U.S. public diplomacy have focused on Washington policies, themes, leaders, and decisions.
They have thus slighted how policies were implemented “in the field” -- in other nations, regions, and societies. There’s not much written on how Public Diplomacy officers at U.S. embassies, consulates, and American centers presented the United States to the people of other societies or how they advanced U.S. policies.
Those who want to gain insight into Public Diplomacy as it is implemented overseas will find a valuable resource in the extensive oral history program of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. ASDT’s offices are on the Arlington campus of the George Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center. (In the State Department, the NFATC is usually called the Foreign Service Institute, FSI.)
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Donald M. Bishop is the Bren Chair of Strategic Communications at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.
Mr. Bishop served as a Foreign Service Officer – first in the U.S. Information Agency and then in the Department of State – for 31 years. Specializing in Public Diplomacy, political-military affairs, and East Asia, he attained the rank of Minister-Counselor in the career service. He was President of the Public Diplomacy Council from 2013 to 2015 and is now a member of the Board of Directors.
...click authors name for more infoAuthor: Donald M. Bishop
U.S. public diplomacy's chief departs at key moment
Sunday, July 30th 2017
Bruce Wharton, the first Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy from the ranks of the career Foreign Service, has retired. Wharton has provided stellar leadership and set a fine example for public diplomacy employees since his appointment last December. No successor has been announced.
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Joe B. Johnson
Board member
Joe B. Johnson consults on government communication and technology after a career in the United States Foreign Service. He is an instructor for the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, where he teaches strategic planning for public diplomacy.
...click authors name for more infoAuthor: Joe Johnson
US international broadcasting then and now
Thursday, July 13th 2017
Here is a report on two events Monday in Washington, by PDC member and former broadcaster Alan Heil. The PDC-USC First Monday event can be seen on YouTube.
A SHORTWAVE CHRYSALIS TO A MULTIMEDIA BUTTERFLY: U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING THEN AND NOW
Last Monday was indeed a memorable day for historians of our nation’s publicly-funded international broadcasters. In the 20th century, these scholars were challenged to understand hot and Cold Wars, and convey what they learned, largely on shortwave radio. Now they must deal in an era of proliferating media vehicles carrying false or distorted information in milliseconds, an unimaginable array of often instantaneous challenges, globally.
On July 10, two forums documented those challenges in bold relief.
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Joe B. Johnson
Board member
Joe B. Johnson consults on government communication and technology after a career in the United States Foreign Service. He is an instructor for the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, where he teaches strategic planning for public diplomacy.
...click authors name for more infoAuthor: Joe Johnson