The role of public diplomacy in statecraft; professional ethics; organizational principles; arguments for using public diplomacy
The House Foreign Affairs Committee summoned Michael Pack, the CEO of five publicly-funded overseas networks, to be the principal figure at a long-scheduled hearing September 24. The problem was: Mr. Pack, though under subpoena after resisting the invitation, never showed up. The main issue: Mr. Pack’s nearly four-month leadership of the Voice of America, Radio…
1. WHITE HOUSE CEREMONIES AND PHOTO OPS: Veteran Middle East experts, public diplomacy hands, and White House observers will remember two dates that attracted intense international media attention and stimulated great optimism: March 26, 1979, and September 13, 1993. Both marked Middle East peace progress and produced iconic foreign policy photo ops and “deliverables” from the…
Having highlighted some of the Public Diplomacy Council’s new Rising Professional members this summer, I am shifting the series’ focus to feature several of the PDC’s more experienced members in the coming weeks. My intent to highlight the importance of intergenerational learning echoes PDC President Sherry Mueller’s message in her book Working World, coauthored with…
That was President Trump’s characterization of the treaty signings at the White House September 15 of the first agreements in more than a quarter of a century between Israel and a pair of tiny Arab Persian Gulf states, the United Arab Republic (UAE) and Bahrain. The announcement was rolled out for maximum public diplomacy. But…
1.DEBATES COMING UP: The nonprofit, non-partisan Commission on Public Debates (CPD) has released the schedule for the important 2020 presidential election debates. The three presidential debates will be September 29 in Cleveland; October 15 in Miami; and October 22 in Nashville. The one vice presidential debate will be October 7 in Salt Lake City. The…
Hans N. (Tom) Tuch was a highly-respected deputy and for some months, acting director of the Voice of America in the late 1970s. I recall the first day of Tom’s tenure at the Voice as controversy swirled anew around whether or not VOA correspondents were U.S. officials, or journalists. It was a day of drama…
Hans N. (Tom) Tuch, an early and persistent advocate of public diplomacy as an indispensable element in the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs, died on September 7, 2020 at his residence in Bethesda,MD. He was 95. The cause of death were complications following a recent fall. His seminal book, “Communicating with the World: U.S. Public…
Three months ago, Michael Pack was named chief executive officer of the five U.S.-funded overseas multimedia networks. They are: Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Middle East Broadcast Network in Arabic (MBN) and Radio-TV Marti in Spanish to Cuba. The five networks are supervised by the U.S.…
1.“TRACKING” CURRENT U.S. AMBASSADORS: With the constant turnover in U.S. heads of missions and challenges getting nominees speedy Senate confirmation, it is not always easy to keep track of who today’s ambassadors are. The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), therefore, provides a terrific public service by posting a list of who presently is running each…
This next installment of my Q&A Series marks the start of a new chapter; having highlighted some of the Public Diplomacy Council’s new Rising Professional members this summer, I am shifting the series’ focus to feature several of the PDC’s more experienced members in the coming weeks. My intent to highlight the importance of intergenerational…