PD commentary
Selection and commentary by PDC members and authoritative experts in the field
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
Journalists killed in Pursuit of Truth Remembered on Flag Day at BBG
Monday, June 19th 2017
To those who follow and admire America’s five government-funded international broadcasting networks, June 14, 2017 --- Flag Day in the U.S. --- will be long remembered as an extraordinary and unique memorial celebration.
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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
VOA against the "Firehose of Falsehoods"
Monday, June 12th 2017
Here's an analysis by Council Member Alan Heil based on our First Monday Forum last week.
In a briefing to a record crowd at the First Monday forum of the Public Diplomacy Council and USC’s Annenberg School June 5, the State Department’s senior advisor to the Helsinki Commission laid out principles for meeting those challenges.
As Scott Rauland put it: “Don’t expect to combat the firehose of falsehoods with a squirt gun of truth.”
The senior diplomat applauded the February rollout of Current Time, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA joint 24-hour multimedia stream in Russian to more than 30 affiliates in countries surrounding Russia and two million users in that country via satellite.
With expanded resources, the “squirt gun of truth” may yet, with adequate investment, become a veritable water cannon of high quality, objective news, helping to foster a thirst for truth. Advancing freedom and democracy, fighting poverty and disease and raising the hopes of millions around the globe clearly is vital to U.S. national defense.
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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
Bannon ally reported as leading candidate to run U.S. international broadcasting
Thursday, June 1st 2017
Michael Pack, President and CEO of the Claremont Institute, was reported today to be the leading candidate to run U.S. international broadcasting, succeeding John Lansing, the current CEO.
The report, in Politico, comes after weeks of rumors that Pack was favored for the post by the White House. See today’s Politico report at http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/michael-pack-candidate-broadcasting-board-of-governors-239022
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Adam Clayton Powell III
Board member
Adam Clayton Powell III is Director, Washington Programs for the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy and directs the Center's Internet of Things (IoT) Emergency Response Initiative. He is also University Fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.
...click authors name for more infoAuthor: Adam Powell
"America First" framework for 2018 international affairs budget request funds "core" PD
Tuesday, May 23rd 2017
"Asserting U.S. leadership and influence" includes core public diplomacy programs, according to the White House budget for 2018.
We don't have a formal strategy or a reorganization plan from the new administration, but a budget may be the most important statement about its new directions. And this page from the State Department lays out nine major statements so far this year.
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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