Public diplomacy and person-to-person contact

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Contrast these two statements (and draw your own conclusions, if any.)

"It has always seemed to me the real art in this business is not so much moving information or guidance or policy five or 10,000 miles. That is an electronic problem. The real art is to move it the last three feet in face to face conversation."

--Edward R. Murrow, director of the United States Information Agency (USIA), which handled outreach to foreign audiences during the Kennedy administration and the Cold War, on ABC TV's "Issues and Answers," August 4, 1963.

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"What does convince young men and women to fight for IS, according to Stengel is not so much social media in general but highly focused social media such as e mail and phone calls – personal contact. Combating that, he says, is the job of intelligence services and law enforcement." 

-- VOA account of its Sept. 25, 2015 interview with Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel