African Leaders Network in Washington

Business and public-sector leaders from 21 French-speaking African countries convened in Washington on an International Visitor Leadership Program.  Their three-week tour kicked off with meetings at the White House on May 2.

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PD commentary

Selection and commentary by PDC members and authoritative experts in the field

North Koreans Quietly Open to International Broadcasts

Tuesday, May 15th 2012

For well more than a decade, Korea experts who specialize in international media have been examining the impact of foreign broadcasts and DVDs on users in North Korea. They have done so through a combination of in-country surveys and debriefings of defectors from North Korea, refugees and travelers abroad. In annual reports, Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders invariably have ranked that country as having the “least free” media in the world. Yet the curtain of near total silence appears to be opening as never before in North Korea.

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Alan L. Heil Jr.

Board member

Summary: As a 36-year veteran of the Voice of America (VOA), Alan Heil traveled to more than 40 countries a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, and later as director of News and Current Affairs, deputy director of programs, and deputy director of the nation’s largest publicly-funded overseas multimedia network. Today, VOA reaches more than 125 million people in 44 languages.

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Author: Alan Heil

Public Diplomacy Measurement

Thursday, May 10th 2012

Perhaps the State Department should take a leaf out of the Marine Corps playbook, especially in terms of evaluation and measurement of results.  I for one would like to see a similar study of State Department Public Diplomacy in Afghanistan 2001 to 2010.  We learn from our mistakes as much or more than from our "self-rated" successes.

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William P. Kiehl

Treasurer / Board Member

Bill Kiehl is founding President & CEO of PD Worldwide, consultants in international public affairs, higher education management, and cross-cultural communication. Dr. Kiehl is currently the Book Review Editor and editor emeritus of the journal American Diplomacy, published by the American Diplomacy Foundation in cooperation with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He served as Executive Director of the Public Diplomacy Council from February 2004 through April 2007. Dr. Kiehl has taught public diplomacy at the Foreign Service Institute and has lectured at a number of colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He holds his Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania; his dissertation was "The Influence of Campus Internationalization on Local Communities."

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Author: Bill Kiehl

Tara Sonenshine's remarks after being sworn in as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs by Secretary Clinton

Wednesday, April 25th 2012

Thank you, Madame Secretary. It is an honor to be here with you, today, and I am grateful for the confidence that you and President Obama have placed in me.

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One person has commented on this article so far

Brian E. Carlson

Board member


Summary: An experienced public diplomacy officer, Ambassador Brian Carlson advises the InterMedia research organization on military and foreign affairs issues and serves the State Department as a senior inspector. For the last three years he was the State Department liaison to the Department of Defense on strategic communication.

 

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Author: Brian Carlson

America: How Others See Us

Monday, April 23rd 2012

I had an opportunity recently to meet Tara Sonenshine, the newly appointed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, and I came away both impressed and hopeful that she will bring a fresh, informed perspective to this important position.

We certainly need it.

The United States seems to have more than its share of image problems these days, from the Secret Service scandal in Colombia and the partying and flagrant disregard for the taxpayer’s dollar by the General Services Administration, to the latest batch of embarrassing photos to emerge from the Afghanistan battlefield.

All of these are public diplomacy problems in the sense that they conspicuously contradict the values of anti-corruption and human rights that we embrace for ourselves and advocate for others. So when we fall short, everybody notices.

Most Americans aren’t surprised by that. We know we’re far from perfect, and we’re also a nation that believes in forgiveness and second chances. (For proof of that, just look at our politicians.) But because of our history, our achievements, and, let’s face it, our occasional lecturing to others, we’re sometimes held to impossibly high standards.

The most surprising example of this that I ever experienced occurred in, of all places, Iran.

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David S. Jackson

David Jackson is a veteran journalist and former U.S. government official with extensive multimedia communications experience in domestic and international markets.

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Author: David S Jackson

Why Not Let Diplomatic Security Do It?

Sunday, April 22nd 2012

Here’s a thought: why don't the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) agents protect the President when he travels to foreign countries?

If there is a constant theme in public diplomacy, it is that the people in the field, at the embassy, know best how to do what the USG needs done.

One reason the Secret Service agents in Cartagena got caught with their pants down (metaphorically speaking) is because they were out of their element.  They were in unfamiliar, foreign territory. 

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6 people have commented on this article so far

Brian E. Carlson

Board member


Summary: An experienced public diplomacy officer, Ambassador Brian Carlson advises the InterMedia research organization on military and foreign affairs issues and serves the State Department as a senior inspector. For the last three years he was the State Department liaison to the Department of Defense on strategic communication.

 

...click authors name for more info

Author: Brian Carlson

The Public Diplomacy Council is a nonprofit organization committed to the academic study, professional practice, and responsible advocacy of public diplomacy. Founded in 1988, the Council serves the community of Foreign Service professionals, professors and students interested in public diplomacy.

The PDC recently re-issued "Public Diplomacy: An Annotated Time Capsule from 1996", two half-hour videos first prepared by the USIA Alumni Association in the mid-1990s.

Upcoming

 

Tuesday, May 22

12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Loy Henderson Auditorium
U.S. Department of State

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine to address the Public Diplomacy Council and guests

To learn more about the event and how to register, click here.

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