"I used to understand everything. I was even paid to explain things. Now I understand nothing. I live in a strange place and understand just a piece of what’s going on."
--Washington Post pundit Richard Cohen; cited in "Richard Cohen, Possibly Suffering From Aphasia, Makes Self-Aware Statement," Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog; image from
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
When Strategic Communication meets Propaganda - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: "[C]overt operations and PSYOPs seem [see below article] to be getting an upper hand, yet again. Whatever happened to benign public diplomacy..."
United States developing software for cyber propaganda campaign - The Next Web: AlJazeera reports that US military is currently developing software that will allow military personnel to create multiple fake online identities with a mission of going into chat rooms and online forums to spread
'pro-American messages.' Critics call it propaganda or 'systemized lying', while the Pentagon calls it 'countering violent, extremist and enemy ideology outside the US.' Right now it is still uncertain how effective it will be and how success or failure can be measured." Image from
Strategic Communications and the Crisis of Strategy - Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "The expansion of strategic communication both in the UK and in the US has a bias towards the military and security issues. This has grown out of the perceived requirements of the war on terror but hasn’t been accompanied by efforts to think through national level communication policy. National level communications strategies have to grow out of a comprehensive view of national priorities (including civilian concerns like investments, tourism and trade) which in turn places a limit on strategic communications as a set of techniques."
Cambodians Get a Taste of Western Television - Robert Turnbull, New York Times: "Dubbed 'the Pope of Soap'
by the British newspaper The Sun, Mr. [Matthew] Robinson was a longtime executive producer of the British series 'EastEnders,' now in its 26th year. Arriving in Cambodia in 2003, he applied the same formula to create three groundbreaking series for Cambodian television, with a fourth now in the works. ... In 2006 a second series, 'AirWaves,' was commissioned by the U.S. State Department with the aim of discouraging Islamic fundamentalism and improving relations between the country’s majority Khmer and small Cham Muslim communities. The United States was also seeking to create a template that might serve other Southeast Asian nations." Via; image from
Broadcasting Board Meets with Secretary Clinton – press release, Broadcasting Board of Governors: “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met yesterday [June 2] with members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and expressed her support for the vital role of U.S. international broadcasting. Board members highlighted the critical importance of providing high-quality news and information and engaging audiences worldwide across the multimedia platforms of the BBG broadcast networks, particularly during the recent events in the Middle East. ‘The Board appreciated Secretary Clinton's active, informed interest in the work of U.S. international broadcasting, and her desire to look for ways that the BBG and State Department can cooperate better in support of our respective missions,’ said BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson.”
Russia: New Media, Old Tactics - Helle Dale, The Foundry, Heritage Foundation: "By driving information and communication toward the Internet (where overhead is miniscule compared to other media) and away from radio and television, policymakers in the U.S. and elsewhere are making their information-dissemination policies vulnerable. It was Lenin who predicted that capitalists would sell the Soviet Union the rope to hang themselves. That was 100 years ago. Today, we are not talking about rope but Internet censorship and tracking software in which brisk international trade has developed. ... According an independent expert evaluation of the VOA Russian news Web site content, ordered by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the VOA Web site is confused about its mission and fails to counter the Kremlin’s propaganda. Furthermore, it deliberately downplays human rights news in order to avoid impressions of an 'anti-Russian' bias. One could indeed argue that the 'reset'
between the Obama and Medvedev governments has had the consequence of toning down content in the interest of blandness and good relations." See also. Image from.
Kuda Hafiz—Farewell, Syed Saleem Shahzad - Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View: "Syed Saleem Shahzad [the murdered Pakistani journalist] was telling the world that the emperor's clothes were in tatters. ... I met Syed Saleem Shahzad several years ago when Santa Fe was one of the stops on his State-Department-sponsored tour of the United States. My job was to set up his two-day schedule in Santa Fe and to accompany him when he visited institutions and met counterparts. He was, in fact, the ideal IV [International Visitor] visitor, the type of invitee the program was designed for and the reason why Congress should fund this program at maximum levels. For all his sophistication about the politics of Pakistan and its neighborhood, his understanding of the U.S. was quite superficial. I had a sense that some of his prejudices were being softened in the course of his encounters in the U.S., and I wouldn’t be surprised if this deepened, more personal understanding had some impact on his conversations with tribal leaders in F.A.T.A. Not as brainwashed propaganda. Not as cut and dried speeches. Not without an admixture of reservation. Most likely only in odd comments showing glimpses of the fascinating rich realities of America. In a world that is governed largely ignorance and unconsidered prejudice any program that can promote this sort of more generous understanding is worth investing in. This is public diplomacy at its best."
Robert R. Reilly: Public Diplomacy in An Age of Global Terrorism - posted by Ruth King, ruthfullyyours.com: "This paper was presented at The Westminster Institute conference held on May 25, 2011, entitled, 'Fighting the Ideological War: Strategies for Defeating Al Qaeda.' ... The State Department should not have been expected to do both diplomacy and public diplomacy, as they sometimes conflict. Public diplomacy attempts to reach the peoples of other nations directly over the heads of their governments. This can make the State Department’s job more difficult, as its responsibility is to work with the heads of those same governments and maintain good relations with them. The two missions should not reside in the same institution. Public diplomacy has suffered as a result. In short, since the dismantling of USIA,
there has been no central U.S. government institution within which policy, personnel, and budget could be deployed coherently to implement a multifaceted strategy to win the war of ideas over an extended period of time. As a result, as Secretary Clinton said, the U.S. is largely absent from the field." Image from
Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century (report review) - Irina, Public and Cultural Diplomacy D: A reflective group blog by students on the Public and Cultural Diplomacy module at London Metropolitan University: "[T]he Internet and the rise of non-state actors acting in the international sphere have an important influence on the foreign public opinion. To counter this, this report [Kirstin M. Lord, Voices of America: US Public Diplomacy for the Twenty-First Century, Brookings Institute, 2008] recommends to create a non-profit organisation, the USA-World Trust, which would support the American government in its efforts of public diplomacy."
Flavor, eye appeal help elevate make Thai an ethnic favorite - Jolene Ketzenberger, indystar.com: "The Thai government has been educating diners about its country's cuisine for years. In fact, an initiative called Global Thai was launched in 2002 to encourage an appreciation for Thai cuisine around the world. Such efforts are referred to as gastrodiplomacy, which relies on the maxim that the way to a person's heart is through the stomach. 'Gastrodiplomacy uses a nation's cuisine to raise awareness of its culture
and heritage, as well as its national brand,' said Paul Rockower, a gastrodiplomacy expert and a blogger for the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy. He calls gastrodiplomacy 'a tremendous platform for cultural awareness' and said Thailand's efforts have been particularly effective. 'Thailand was the first to realize the role of restaurants as forward cultural outposts and thus support them as a means of cultural diplomacy,' said Rockower. 'Thai food has really moved from the exotic to far more mainstream cuisine, and I believe this to be an outcome of their Global Thai program.'" Image from article, with caption: Yum catfish makes an appealing presentation at Siam Square in Fountain Square
Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying Meets with British FCO Minister of State Browne - press release, MFA China: "On the afternoon of May 31, 2011, Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying on invitation met with visiting British FCO Minister of State Jeremy Browne. ... Jeremy Browne was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 14 May 2010. He is responsible for Far East (including China), Olympics and public diplomacy.
Theories of Influence - Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "[O]ne useful exercise for public diplomacy research would be to catalogue the theories of influence at work in the field. We’ve got ideas from academic communications research, applied communication – PR and marketing, international relations, political psychology etc the point is not just to list them but to look at the assumptions about the world and the extent to which these theories are simply expressing the same ideas in different ways. This would help to bridge the gap between comms and IR and manage the incoherence of soft power arguments."
RELATED ITEMS
Julian Assange awarded top UK Journalism Prize - Emanuelle Degli Esposti, New Statesman: The internet activist and founder of whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, has been awarded the highly prestigious Martha Gelhorn Prize for Journalism 2011.
The prize is presented annually to a journalist "whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda, or 'official drivel', as Martha Gelhorn called it." The judges ruled unanimously in favour of Julian Assange, whose work in exposing classified information to the public was described as "a truth-telling that has empowered people all over the world." Assange image from article
Campaign To Delegitimize Israel - mypetjawa.mu.nu: Anti-Israeli organizations examine implementing propaganda displays based on flying large numbers of activists to Ben-Gurion Airport on commercial flights.
They seek to express solidarity with the Palestinians, embarrass Israel and impress the "right of return" on international public opinion. Hamas urged "Palestinian refugees" to fly to Israel's airports for Naksa Day. Image from article
Manzar Foroohar: The California Faculty Association's Secret Weapon - Lee Kaplan, FrontPage Magazine - When the California Faculty Association (CFA) adopted a resolution in 2009 condemning Israel for its military incursion into Gaza, it reinforced the fear that academic unions would be the next front in an ongoing propaganda offensive against the Jewish State. Amidst the ensuing controversy, one of the key players in the resolution’s formation—Manzar Foroohar, an Iranian immigrant and history professor specializing in the modern Middle East and Latin America at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo—came to the fore.
However, the extent of her involvement was never publicly acknowledged. In fact, Foroohar authored and championed the resolution, which was presented by the CFA Peace & Justice Committee (Committee), unanimously adopted by the CFA Board of Directors on February 7, 2009, and passed by the CFA General Assembly in Sacramento on April 4-5 that same year. Blandly titled, “CFA Call for a Halt to Violence Against All Civilians in Palestine and Israel,” the resolution was, in fact, blatantly anti-Israel. Image from article
Vietnam says poll success despite hostile forces - Sin Chew Jit Poh, mysinchew.com: Vietnam on Friday hailed last month's election in the one-party state as a success with a turnout of 99.5 percent, despite what it described as efforts by "hostile forces" to disrupt the vote. "The legislative elections have been carried out successfully," Pham Minh Tuyen, the secretary general of the election council, told a news conference. "They were held as hostile forces continue to step up sabotage operations against the regime and propaganda to undermine the election," he added, in an apparent reference to overseas-based opposition movements.
RMB City Opera - USC US-China Institute: The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City will screen Cao Fei's RMB City Opera in which a man and a woman interact as actors on a stage and as avatars in the virtual world.
Inspired by propaganda operas from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, RMB City Opera includes characters in Red Army uniforms. Batman and Batwoman, Superman and Superwoman are also among the cast. Image from article
Film qualification in RF - aysor.am: "The Economic Development Ministry of Russian Federation has put a project in his site according to which the moves have to pass an age-qualification. The sources inform that earlier the age-qualification was working for the film rent shops. The the culture ministry is to qualify the movies. Besides that the culture ministry can forbid renting films where terrorism, extremism, violence, propaganda of drugs etc. is found. The RF culture ministry has not yet commented the document and has mentioned that it is just a project which can be changed."
IMAGE
--Rob Beschizza, "Cellphone radiation not a problem for this guy," Boing Boing
1 comment:
For my part every person must go through this.
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