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News :: Miscellaneous |
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"Public Diplomacy": Selling the War on Terrorism |
Current rating: 0 |
by Kristian Knutsen
(No verified email address) |
02 Jan 2002
Modified: 04 Jan 2002 |
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What is public diplomacy? Is it efforts to "rebrand" the United State's image abroad? Is it holding public forums in America sponsored by the State Department discussing the "war on terrorism"? |
What is public diplomacy? Is it efforts to "rebrand" the United State's image abroad? Is it holding public forums in America sponsored by the State Department discussing the "war on terrorism"?
Sheldon Rampton, Editor for PR Watch (http://www.prwatch.org ) answered some questions for the Madison Independent Media Center about the role of public relations in wartime and the current incarnation of "public diplomacy".
http://madison.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2409&group=webcast
Rampton concludes his discussion of public diplomacy by noting that without some policy changes, "in the long run it doesn't help win the battle for hearts and minds."
On Wednesday, December 5, a national electronic town hall meeting on the "war against terrorism" was held at UW-Madison. It featured interactive teleconferencing between 11 colleges nationwide. The featured speaker was Marc Grossman, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, who is the third-highest official at the State Department. It was moderated in Madison by Alfred Defago, former ambassador of Switzerland to the U.S., and International Visiting Professor at UW-Madison.
A student participant and forum coordinator were interviewed regarding their thoughts on the war. You can listen to their comments here.
http://madison.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2196&group=webcast
Rampton contended in his interview that such forums' "main purpose is to mobilize public support for the war by framing everything as a 'war on terrorism'."
Ambassador Defago was interviewed following the program. He was asked about extending the war beyond Afghanistan, whether or not some U.S. food aid efforts were public relations, and the nature of public diplomacy itself. He stated that "you can only sell a product that is perceived as good. If there is a problem with the product, you can't convince people." He was also asked on the differences between U.S. and European media and the move of the 2002 World Economic Forum from Davos to New York City. More detailed descriptions are available here.
http://madison.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2201&group=webcast
U.S. State Department:
Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
http://www.state.gov/r/
Public Diplomacy Calendar
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/calendar/calendar.htm
More information:
*What is Impropaganda?
http://www.prwatch.org/improp/impropaganda.html
*Propaganda Inc.: Behind the curtain at the USIA
http://www.guerrillanews.com/counter_intel/propaganda_inc/index.html
*US Hones in on Propaganda War
http://www.earthtimes.org/oct/mediaushomesinonoct13_01.htm
*Ad War for the Air War
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0110/25/world/world10.html
*A History Of Propaganda
http://www.wnyc.org/new/talk/onthemedia/transcripts_112401_propaganda.html
*Selling the USA
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/659498.asp
*The Propagandists of War
http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?request=671
*The War For Public Opinion
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12050
*Spinning the Spin War
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/12/16/MN182823.DTL
*"American Advertising Goes to War"
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=33639
For continuing coverage, please visit PR Watch's Spin of the Day:
http://www.prwatch.org/cgi/spin.cgi |
See also:
http://madison.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2459&group=webcast
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