Areas of PDC activity, including academic study, professional practice and advocacy
Every so often, a topic for commentary comes along that focuses the writer more intently than the average. Of course, if there is a personal backstory or connection with the topic, that surely helps. Today that topic has found its writer — or vice versa. You see, the topic before me today is the state…
In recent years, over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change, and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. A sense of that mass migration is depicted in Human Flow, a film epic created by the internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei…
The Council hosted a delegation of public communications executives from Dubai Monday morning as part of their International Media Diplomacy Program in Washington. The Protocol School of Washington and the Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO) co-sponsored the event. Several Council members and Shawn Powers, staff director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy,…
Irwin Steven Goldstein told the Foreign Relations Committee, “If confirmed, I look forward to working with the Department’s very talented career officials to ensure that we are speaking with one clear, consistent, and compelling voice.” The veteran public relations executive’s official statement is attached to this blog post. He appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee…
It is easy to be beguiled by the press of current events and neglect the important aspects of public affairs, building relationships that last. As I evolved in my PD career, I found that I moved from an emphasis on media to one of relationships built with exchanges and cultural events. I came to understand…
On June 16, 2016 in Pudong, Shanghai, the Walt Disney Company opened its largest theme park ever. In his dedication speech, CEO Bob Iger described the $5.5 billion, 943-acre Shanghai Disneyland Park and Resort as a “happy place . . . created for everyone,” a world “of fantasy, romance and adventure,” a land of…
By Donald M. Bishop – The death, earlier this year, of Michael Novak — philosopher, journalist, and diplomat committed to Public Diplomacy and international broadcasting – reminded me of an extraordinary five days I spent with him in Bangladesh in 1995. Here are some memories of his visit — and insights for Public Diplomacy. In…
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown directly damages US cultural diplomacy, and undermines the flow of transnational cultural content in ways at once parochial and potentially damaging to the US as a source of global inspiration over the long term. This is how once influential US soft power can become irrelevant. The Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown,…
As a former public diplomacy officer, I approach the concept of place branding skeptically. Trying to brand the United States is futile — especially in our political environment. Yet a recent article in Public Diplomacy magazine opened new perspectives on the topic. Darius Udrys, Ph.D., was the founding director of Go Vilnius – an agency…
There is room for optimism that Congress will reject the Administration’s proposed deep cuts to exchanges programs and to public diplomacy in general. However, if you want to defend these programs, now is the time to speak out. Through our member Sherry Mueller, the Public Diplomacy Council joined major PD advocacy organizations to sponsor “Making…