It was October 15. 2015. The Broadcasting Board of Governors, recently renamed the U.S. Agency for Global Media, heard some sound advice about the power of the five taxpayer-funded multimedia networks it leads. “To state the obvious,” guest speaker Adam Clayton Powell III told the Board, “not everything is true, some things are provably false.…
Details
Sometimes old speeches help shine light on current issues. From twenty years ago, here are some words for today’s Public Diplomacy. On October 4, 1999, a few days after the U.S. Information Agency became part of the Department of State, Representative Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey entered remarks on Public Diplomacy in the Congressional…
Details
Public Diplomacy officers in the Foreign Service meet many educators – from Ministers of Education and Presidents or Vice-Chancellors of major universities, down to deans, principals, professors teaching courses relating to the U.S., and English teachers. During my career, I had countless telephone calls like this one: Educator: “Mr. Bishop, it was wonderful meeting you…
Details
If you participate in social media, you are being spun. And that’s a problem for government communicators, especially in public diplomacy. LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media, published just two months ago, has been termed by Amazon Press as “the best book of 2018”. The book’s co-authors, noted scholars of 21st century new media Peter W.…
Details
This article, first published in 2012, notes that “Although the United States has its own glorious history of hosting world’s fairs…we have had a spotty participation record in recent decades”. The author, Beatrice Camp, served as Consul General during the Shanghai Expo 2010 and later as Washington coordinator for the Milan Expo in 2015. After…
Details
The words and deeds of Dr. Martin Luther King have inspired many peoples and nations, for his hopes for a world of equality, respect, and human rights are their dreams too. In foreign capitals on the holiday honoring Dr. King’s birthday, Ambassadors will share his legacies with local leaders at receptions, and Public Diplomacy officers…
Details
Renewing my membership in the Public Diplomacy Council just got easier. Responding to our President’s reminder message last Sunday, I followed his link to our Membership page, clicked on its “Add to Cart” button, and paid my 2019 annual dues with my Amex card in about 90 seconds. (Just got the receipt via email.) Council…
Details
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the U.S. Information Agency – at that time the arm of U.S. Public Diplomacy — helped extend and solidify the late President’s legacy by producing a famous film — John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums. The 86-minute memorial documentary recalled the achievements…
Details
Imagine a packed monsoon-drenched refugee tent camp in eastern Bangladesh, where more than 700,000 souls were forced to flee a year and a half ago from military oppression in their impoverished villages in neighboring Burma. Focusing a spotlight on their plight is a key challenge for public diplomacy in 2019. Aerial views of the…
Details