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Unit 1: Who
are lobbyists & what motivates
them?
Unit 2: Turkey's image abroad.
Unit 3: History of Turkish communities worldwide & reasons for a weak Turkish lobby.
Unit 4: National & ethnic interests:
Anti-Turkey lobbies, misrepresentation of facts & defamation.
Unit 5: The Turkish lobby dilemma in the
United States as a case study.
Unit 6: Problems encountered by Turkish
lobbies in the EU, Germany, France & worldwide.
Unit 7: Current Turkish lobby issues & the role of public
diplomacy.
Unit 8 What can be learned from powerful
lobbies such as the
Jewish/Pro-Israel lobby?
Unit 9 New approaches to educating &
informing Turkish lobbying groups.
Unit 10 Media relations, advertising & professional communications
skills.
Unit 11 Initiatives for individuals & public
speaking.
Unit 12 Initiatives for
communities, campaigns, &
NGO'S.
Unit 13: Fund-raising, public relations,
& what can be done domestically.
Unit 14: Turkish lobbies undergo
a period of transition: The need to strengthen old &
new leadership.
Unit 15: Long-term strategies & lobbying in
the post-September 11 era.
I. OUTLINE FOR UNIT 7: Current issues
and the role of public diplomacy.
1. History and current affairs.
a. Review of FORUM
topics included in this web site. Understanding the issues.
2. Better educate yourself, and develop good
debating and communication skills.
a. Addressing controversial
issues.
b. Finding credible and accurate
information.
3. The role of public diplomacy / civilian-military relations.
a. Propaganda, public diplomacy & the
known facts.
b. Role of civilian-military
relations.
II. EXERCISE, ACTIVITIES & PROJECTS ( See History of Orient
www.silkroutes.net )
●
To see issues Turkish lobbies are involved in CLICK HERE
●
2006 USA-TURKEY Economic &
Business Affairs / ATC Conference Topics
●
2006 USA-TURKEY-ISRAEL Relations (TURKISH & ENGLISH) (click here)
●Plan a debate or create a panel in order to develop
your communication skills.
●Visit the web site of the Turkish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to learn about Turkish foreign policy issues
www.mfa.gov.tr.
●Make a list of controversial
issues. Then make a list of questions most Turks have difficulty answering.
Place the sources for credible information in the appropriate section of the
Forum.
III. QUESTIONS
Can you define or describe: the Ottoman Milliyet System, the Turkish
War of Independence, Hellenism, Enosis, Sevres Treaty, Lausanne Treaty,
Montreaux Treaty, territorial waters,
Pontus,
Dashnak Party, and the history of the Armenian Patriarchate, Greek Orthodox
Church, and the Jewish community in Turkey?
IV. BACKGROUND MATERIAL
So you've made it this far. Now comes
the hard part. As discussed in Unit 2, "Turkey's Image
Abroad," you will often encounter seemingly
very powerful arguments based on distorted historical facts. In order to be
informed and have a credible reply, you need to educate yourself and develop
good debating skills.
Current issues and concerns (these
subjects will be included in the FORUM of this web site):
●Your responses to recent media coverage.
●Commonly encountered problems of Turks living abroad.
●Commonly encountered problems of Turkish lobbies and organizations.
●Discuss Turkey's image abroad?
●What is most misunderstood about Turkey? Facts that need to be highlighted.
●Common
anti-Turkish lobbying activities and tactics.
●What can Turkey learn from successful lobbies?
●How is Turkey viewed from Europe? What are some unique problems?
●How is Turkey viewed from the USA? What are some unique problems?
●How is Turkey viewed in the Muslim world?
●Alleged Armenian genocide
allegations.
●PKK Terrorism.
●International Terrorism.
●Clash of civilizations.
●The post-September 11 world.
●EU-Turkey relations.
●Greek-Turkish relations.
●Cyprus.
●Syria,
Iran, Russia, and relations with neighboring countries.
●Azeri-Armenian-Turkish relations.
●Turkish-Israeli relations.
●Turkey's relations with
elected Hamas leaders & relations with newly elected Israeli government after
March 2006.
●Israel/Kurdish
Jews relations with Northern Iraq.
●Maintaining
and improving friendship and goodwill between the U.S. &
Israel.
●Turkey's relations with the Arab-Muslim world.
●Turkey's leadership role in the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
●Relations with the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Turkic world.
●Relations with Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Japan and Southeast Asia.
●Chinese-Turkish relations.
●What are the threats to Turkey's national interests and security?
●Concept of "Moderate Islam."
●Concept of "Euro
Islam."
●Economic issues related to Turkey.
●Headscarf controversy in France &
Turkey.
●The role of secularism in Turkey.
●The role of women in Turkey.
●Democracy & Reforms.
●Human rights.
●Turkey as an example, or so-called
"role model?"
●Broader Middle East &
North Africa Project, Genişletilmiş Ortadoğu ve Kuzey Afrika Projesi (GOKAP)--also
referred to as the Greater Middle East Initiative, or Büyük Ortadoğu Projesi, BOP).
●Problems in the Aegean and Bosphorus.
●Human trafficking and drugs.
●Minority and religious rights.
●Strategic issues & foreign policy.
●Resources, water, energy...
●The future of NATO.
●Globalization,
Supranational forces.
●Deteriorating situation in Iraq?
●Developments in Northern Iraq?
●Tensions between modernity and
tradition.
●Discuss the units contained in this web site.
●Ideas, strategies and new approaches proposed by site visitors and volunteers.
●Credible sources of information on current issues of concern.
Share your thoughts and opinions with friends and family so
that you develop good debating skills. Create time to think, and look for opportunities
to present your views (while taking a train or sitting in a taxi for example).
Try to follow news events with a friend and
prepare in advance for your discussions. Use different thought provoking
techniques to test each other's knowledge. You must devote some time to reading
a wide-range of history books and to keeping-up with current affairs.
One of the keys to being an effective communicator is to
speak simply in an unemotional, convincing, authoritative manner. You must be
able to find the right explanation for the immediate situation, and back up your
position with evidence (dates and facts are always impressive). You will no
doubt be faced with difficult situations, and unreasonable people, in which case
the best approach may be to change the subject. If you both are not certain of
the facts, find alternative ways for describing what your views are. If the person you are
debating with is not willing to listen, point
out that whatever they are trying to say is undermined by their biased behavior.
As a last resort, when dealing with those who are unreasonable, simply
deny all they say, and accuse them of something in return.
Unfortunately, anti-Turkish lobbies find new methods to counter Turkish lobbying
efforts that seek to disclose truthful information. These lobbies often use
disinformation but accuse Turkish lobbies of doing so. They aim not only to
shape public opinion in their favor, but also to discredit the Turkish lobby.
One example of this is demonstrated by a legal case by an Armenian lobby group
that targeted the Turkish Consulate General in France claiming that the consulate
was conducting denial propaganda
against the so-called Armenian genocide on its web site by targeting the French
public. Such accusations aim to make it difficult for Turkish lobbies to present
alternative information and educate
the public of various countries, especially when the public might be misled by
distorted information (if it were not for the efforts of Turkish lobbyists fewer
people would be informed about Armenian terrorist activities, which resulted in
the deaths of 40 Turkish diplomats and dozens of other victims). Turkish lobbying efforts, and public diplomacy, must
therefore be able to stand firm against any accusations of propaganda. The U.S.
has been faced with similar accusations of disseminating propaganda (especially
due to the prolonged war in Iraq which was based on inaccurate information).
Although countries around the world use propaganda, all countries seek to
disseminate truthful information so that they remain credible. This is because
in order to be persuasive the leadership of any country must be believable. Public
diplomacy should therefore be based on fact. In 1963, the Director
of USIA, Edward R. Murrow, stated in testimony before a U.S. Congressional Committee
that: "American traditions and the American ethic require us to be truthful, but
the most important reason is that truth is the best propaganda and lies are the
worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be
credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that."
WHAT IS PUBLIC DIPLOMACY?
In order to understand the important role public diplomacy plays in foreign
affairs, in supporting the foreign policies of a country, and in safeguarding
and advancing its interests, the methods used by various countries should be
studied. Let's examine the United States as an example (the information below
has been obtained from the web site of
www.publicdiplomacy.org October 16, 2004).
According to Hans N. Tuch, author of Communicating With the World (St. Martin's
Press, NY, 1990), public diplomacy is defined as: "Official government efforts
to shape the communications environment overseas in which American foreign
policy is played out, in order to reduce the degree to which misperceptions and
misunderstandings complicate relations between the U.S. and other nations."
Central to public diplomacy is the transnational flow of information and ideas.
When, early in their careers, Anwar Sadat, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, Helmut
Schmidt, Raul Alfonsin, and Margaret Thatcher, among many other national
leaders, visited the United States under the educational exchange programs of
the United States government, U.S. public diplomacy was at work. When Latin
Americans viewed a film called The Trip on their local television stations,
depicting the dangers of illegal narcotics trafficking to all societies,
including their own, they were watching a product made by USIA, the U.S.
Government's public diplomacy agency. When U.S. astronauts landed on the moon
for the first time, it was the Voice of America, the radio service of USIA, that
carried Neil Armstrong's words to millions here on earth. (1)
When a student or a scholar in a developing country conducts research in a U.S.
information center in his capital city, he is utilizing one of the popular
services provided by U.S. public diplomats in his country. When a newspaper
correspondent in a country that has diplomatic relations with the U.S. asks for
clarification of a statement allegedly made by a high-ranking U.S. official, he
contacts the U.S. Embassy's press attache -- a U.S. public diplomat. When a
student or an educator in a foreign country wants to know more about U.S.
education in general or a specific college or university program in the U.S., it
may be a U.S. public diplomat, or someone on his staff, to whom such a query can
best be directed.
When a U.S. performing artist is on a foreign tour sponsored by the U.S.
Government, U.S. public diplomats in the cities the artist visits will publicize
the tour and make arrangements for his or her performances. When a need is
perceived to publish a pamphlet in a particular country or group of countries on
a subject of binational interest, U.S. public diplomats may plan such a pamphlet
and arrange its publication and distribution. These are but a few of the various
activities with which the practitioners of public diplomacy become involved, but
they demonstrate the scope and variety of modern public diplomacy.
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY DEFINED:
According to the Planning Group for Integration of USIA into the Dept. of State
(June 20, 1997), public diplomacy is defined as follows: "Public Diplomacy seeks
to promote the national interest of the United States through understanding,
informing and influencing foreign audiences."
The Planning Group distinguished Public Affairs from Public Diplomacy
as follows: "Public Affairs is the provision of information to the public, press
and other institutions concerning the goals, policies and activities of the U.S.
Government. Public affairs seeks to foster understanding of these goals through
dialogue with individual citizens and other groups and institutions, and
domestic and international media. However, the thrust of public affairs is to
inform the domestic audience."
"Public diplomacy" refers to government-sponsored programs intended to inform or
influence public opinion in other countries; its chief instruments are
publications, motion pictures, cultural exchanges, radio and television." (U.S.
Department of State, Dictionary of International Relations Terms, 1987, p. 85)
USIA which was in the business of public diplomacy for more than forty years,
defined public diplomacy as follows: Public diplomacy seeks to promote the
national interest and the national security of the United States through
understanding, informing, and influencing foreign publics and broadening
dialogue between American citizens and institutions and their counterparts
abroad.
"According to a Library of Congress study of U.S. international and cultural
programs and activities prepared for the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
U.S. Senate, the term 'public diplomacy' was first used in 1965 by Dean Edmund Gullion of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. It was
created with the establishment at Fletcher of the Edward R. Murrow Center for
Public Diplomacy."
The Murrow Center, in one of its earlier brochures, described public diplomacy
as follows: "Public diplomacy . . . deals with the influence of public attitudes
on the formation and execution of foreign policies. It encompasses dimensions of
international relations beyond traditional diplomacy; the cultivation by
governments of public opinion in other countries; the interaction of private
groups and interests in one country with those of another; the reporting of
foreign affairs and its impact on policy; communication between those whose job
is communication, as between diplomats and foreign correspondents; and the
processes of inter-cultural communications.
To this day views differ as to whether or not "public diplomacy" and
"propaganda" are similar.
Two examples:
a) In 1955, Oren Stephens, author of Facts to a Candid World: America's
Overseas Information Program, called such programs (now known as "public
diplomacy"), "propaganda." He referred to the Declaration of Independence as
being "first and foremost a propaganda tract."
b) In 1961, Wilson Dizard, in the first book to be written specifically about
USIA, which was then about eight years old, wrote: The United States has been in
the international propaganda business, off and on, for a long time . . .
propaganda played a crucial role in the war of independence."
In the years following these earlier views, some U.S. Government officials and
others contended that U.S. public diplomacy programs are not propaganda. Others
still contend, however, that since propaganda can be based on fact, public
diplomacy can be equated with propaganda i.e. ideas, information, or other
material disseminated to win people over to a given doctrine. If based on
falsehoods and untruths, while still propaganda, it is best described as
"disinformation."
USIA officials always contended that their programs dealt with the known facts;
to do otherwise would be counterproductive as their reliability would be
questioned.
Public diplomacy differs from traditional diplomacy in that public diplomacy
deals not only with governments but primarily with non-governmental individuals
and organizations. Furthermore, public diplomacy activities often present
many differing views as represented by private American individuals and
organizations in addition to official U.S. Government views. Traditional
diplomacy actively engages one government with another government. In
traditional diplomacy, U.S. Embassy officials represent the U.S. Government in a
host country primarily by maintaining relations and conducting official USG
business with the officials of the host government whereas public diplomacy
primarily engages many diverse non-government elements of a society.
The basic tools used in public diplomacy activities and programs are generally
classified under the rubrics of "Information" and "Cultural and Educational
Exchange" programs. The above classifications are for convenience. The content
of either is often more informational than cultural and vice versa.
With the tremendous advances in communication technology in recent years, the
above traditional designations have been greatly affected by today's instant
global communications as well as numerous other technological advances. As a
result, public diplomacy activities now include Web sites on the Internet, CD
ROMs, e-mail, teleconference programs, and other marvels of the late Twentieth
Century communications revolution.
Information activities:
-- "Wireless File."
Traditionally called the "wireless file" because it was orignally sent and received by radio, today it is called "The Washington File"
and received at U.S. embassies on computer terminals where it arrives via
satellite, cable, microwave, land line, or a combination of these. Contents of
the file include such things as full texts of official statements and speeches
by U.S. officials; transcripts of press conferences and briefings by The White
House, State Department, and other U.S. Government agencies as well as special
features and interpretive articles.
-- Speakers and Specialists.
Americans representing government, business,
academia, media, and community organizations conduct short-term speaking
programs under State Department auspices. Most are independent academics and
professionals who present their personal views and experiences.
-- Professionals-in-Residence.
Professional specialists in such fields as law,
business, public administration, and the media spend from two weeks to several
months in a country serving as advisors to non-academic institutions.
-- Teleconference Programs.
Through the combination of advanced technology and
the telephone, speakers unable to travel are linked with audiences overseas
through either voice or voice-and-video communications.
-- Publications and Electronic Media.
A broad range of booklets, pamphlets,
brochures, and other special publications, often in multiple language editions,
formerly published by USIA for distribution by USIS posts, embassies and
cultural centers overseas, will now be a part of State Department programs.
-- Foreign Press Centers.
Foreign Press Centers established by USIA in
Washington, New York, and Los Angeles provide a variety of services to more than
1,600 resident foreign journalists, along with thousands more who visit the U.S.
each year on short-term assignments.
-- Books and Information Resource Centers.
Information Resource Centers
formerly maintained by USIA and now by the Department of State, exist in many
countries. Library programs in many binational cultural centers also receive
support. Book programs include the translation and production of selected titles
by foreign publishers. By underwriting a portion of the production costs,
translated copies not only enter foreign commercial markets but copies become
available for Information Resource Centers and binational center libraries, and
for presentation to selected individuals and institutions
-- International Radio and Television Program.
Education and cultural exchanges:
-- The Fulbright Program of student, teacher, and scholar exchanges.
-- Academic Exchanges.
-- Study of the United States. By helping to establish and maintain quality
U.S. studies programs in foreign universities and secondary schools, this
program promotes better understanding of the United States.
-- English Teaching.
-- International Visitors. The I.V. program brings people to the U.S. for
three-to-four week visits to meet and confer with professional counterparts and
to experience firsthand the United States and its institutions.
-- Citizen Exchanges. This program develops international exchange grant
projects with American non-profit institutions, including voluntary community
organizations, professional associations, and universities.
-- Program for Building Democratic Institutions. USIA developed a variety of
programs to help emerging democracies worldwide build institutions that support
democratic reform. They emphasize hands-on training and the development of
professional contacts.
-- Performing and Visual Arts. Under this program, the vitality, diversity and
excellence of American performing and visual arts are presented to audiences
overseas.
International broadcasting:
International broadcasting, which traditionally was included under the rubric of
Information Activities when discussing public diplomacy programs, merits a
separate section. It is an overseas program that goes directly to its audience
rather than via an embassy. The U.S. Government's international broadcasting
entered a new era when Congress passed the International Broadcasting Act of
1994 (Public Law 103-236). This legislation established the International
Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) within USIA and set in motion the consolidation of all
U.S. Government international broadcasting--federally funded and grantee alike.
All such broadcasts are now overseen by the Bureau's Board of Governors. On
October 1, 1999, the IBB became an independent agency.
--Voice of America.
As the U.S. Government's international radio service, the VOA provides news and information in dozens of languages to an estimated ninety
million listeners worldwide. Accuracy and objectivity are sought as mandated by
the VOA Charter (Public Laws 94-350 and 103-415). VOA's "Affiliate" Broadcasters. Besides direct broadcasts, VOA relies on
"affiliate" radio stations throughout the world to expand its listening
audience. It provides programming by satellite, prerecorded tape, or phone
"feed" to over 1,000 "affiliates" worldwide. Worldwide Television and Film Service. Television, including WORLDNET, a
global television network which first telecast to other countries via satellite
Nov. 3, 1983, is under the operational jurisdiction of the VOA. WORLDNET
presents U.S. perspectives on important domestic and international events;
explains U.S. Government policies to a global audience; and transmits a visual
image of American culture, history, and scientific and technological
achievements. In addition, the VOA produces television versions of some of its
radio programs.
--Radio Marti and TV Marti.
Radio Marti broadcast its first program May 20,
1985, as authorized by the Broadcasting to Cuba Act of 1983 (Public Law 98-111).
TV Marti transmitted its first program on March 27, 1990. Directed toward Cuban
audiences, both must follow VOA standards of objectivity, accuracy, and balance
in accordance with the legislation which created these stations.
--Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
is a nonprofit, private corporation that broadcasts domestic news and
information to Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. It receives funding
from IBB's Board of Governors. Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C., and its
broadcast center is in Prague, Czech Republic. RFE/RL is a leading means of
Western communication to newly independent nations in a difficult transition to
democracy and free market economies.
--Radio Free Asia.
Radio Free Asia also receives grants from the Board of
Governors. It is a private, non-profit corporation that broadcasts domestic news
and information in seven languages to listeners who do not have access to full
and free news media.
RFA seeks to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression --
including freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
medium regardless of frontiers. RFA broadcasts daily via shortwave to China,
Tibet, Burma, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cambodia in Mandarin, Tibetan, Burmese,
Vietnamese, Korean, Lao and Khmer. The broadcasts originate from RFA Washington,
DC, incorporating reports from correspondents and participants throughout Asia.
--Radio Sawa.
Radio Sawa ("Sawa" means "together" in Arabic) is a service of
U.S. International Broadcasting aimed at listeners under 30, operated and funded
by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. One of the guiding principles of Radio
Sawa is that the long-range interests of the United States are served by
communicating directly in Arabic with the peoples of the Middle East by radio.
Radio Sawa began broadcasting in March 2002 and is available 24 hours a day, 7
days a week on FM frequencies throughout the Middle East. Radio Sawa is also
available via Nilesat, Arabsat, and Eutelsat.
State Department's Community Connections Program Information:
The Community Connections Program brings competitively selected professionals
from Eurasia to the U.S. for internships in local American communities and
businesses and organizations. The goals of this program are to: expose
participants to a democratic free-market society; encourage both the
implementation of change and the building of public-private partnerships in
their home countries; and to create linkages between the host community and the
participants' home community. Many participants, after exposure to the United
States, assess its institutions more positively. Alumni attitudes toward the
rule of law, freedom of speech, democracy, and a market economy all improved as
a result of the program (46%, 43%, 48%, and 62%, respectively). Alumni attitudes
toward key U.S. social institutions and values, including ethnic diversity,
religious institutions, volunteer organizations, and the role of the individual
in society all improved (55%, 49%, 65%, and 51%, respectively.)
Community Connections had a positive effect on participants' firms or careers.
One half of the alumni reported that the fiscal health of their firms had
improved as a direct result of the contacts or information gained in the
program. Among those not heading firms or organizations at the time of the
exchange, 62% said their employment status had improved, 25% said the nature and
scope of their work had expanded, and 24% were working more hours. 98% agreed
that supervisors should adopt a more democratic management style-taking the
opinions of their subordinates into account when making decisions. Participants
are inspired to implement change in their home countries. Alumni have a
continuing and positive impact on their home communities via workshops,
seminars, medical clinics, free legal services, new schools and parent-teacher
organizations, centers for public policy, and other innovations. Alumni trace
these contributions to skills or knowledge acquired in the United States.
(1)
On October 1, 1999, the
United States Information Agency was abolished. The new "Office of Information
Programs" in the Department of State assumed responsibility for almost all
overseas information programs, including the creation and maintenance of USIA's
International Home Page on the Internet. The newly created Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs now administers most international exchange programs,
including the Fulbright program. Most of USIA's operations abroad will continue,
albeit under different names in most cases.
USIA's broadcasting elements -- Voice of America radio, the non-interactive
programs of World television, and Radio Marti and Radio Marti TV, have been
placed with other U.S. Government broadcasting services in the International
Broadcasting Bureau, an independent government entity. USIA's Foreign Press
Centers operation has moved to the State Department's Bureau of Public Affairs,
and its Office of Research and Media Reaction has moved to State's Bureau of
Intelligence and Research.
The reorganization was carried out in accordance with the Foreign Affairs Reform
and Restructuring Act of 1998, which also called for the Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency and some functions of the Agency for International
Development to be integrated into the State Department.
Distinction
between public affairs and public diplomacy:
On April
18, 1997, the White House announced reorganization of the foreign affairs
agencies. Task forces, composed of representatives of each agency affected and
union representatives, worked on the issues involved in the plan to consolidate
USIA and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) with the Department of
State. The Agency for International Development would remain intact but its
director (Administrator) would report to the Secretary of State.
In the summer of 1997 the task forces submitted their recommendations. By
October 1, 1997, the reports were awaiting review by the Secretary of State.
After the Secretary's approval, recommendations were to be sent to the White
House for presidential approval.
Among the issues raised during the deliberations of the task force on public
diplomacy was the distinction between public affairs and public
diplomacy. As the members of this task force apparently could not reach
agreement on this issue, they presented two options:
Option 1 would create an Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public
Affairs, with oversight over two bureaus: Educational/Cultural Affairs and
Public Affairs. Option 2 would create an Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy.
He or she would oversee exchanges, international visitor programs, the current
"I" Bureau of USIA (global media operations--which would remain intact), and
strategic communications. Public Affairs would remain separate and distinct
under this recommended option.
On November 13, 1997, the House of Representatives leadership stripped from the
Foreign Operations spending bill a provision which would have authorized the
reorganization of foreign policy agencies, including USIA. After nearly a year
in limbo, Congressional authorization, required for the reorganization to take
place, finally was given.
On October 21, 1998, President Clinton signed the massive omnibus spending bill
for the U.S. Government's new fiscal year. It included legislation abolishing
USIA and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, merging both within the
Department of State, effective October 1, 1999 for USIA. At that time the
position of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs was
established. Evelyn S. Lieberman became the first person to fill that position.
The Bureau of Broadcasting, which includes the Voice of America and Radio Marti,
operates television activities such as WORLDNET, and provides grants to Radio
Liberty/Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, became a separate agency. For
further details see the pertinent sections in the web sites to which this site
is linked.
Commission
Report on the Consolidation:
The United States Advisory Commission On Public Diplomacy issued a report in
October, 2000, entitled
Consolidation of USIA
Into The State Department: An Assessment After One Year. The Executive Summary
of this report states:
"The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy finds that the consolidation
of the United States Information Agency (USIA) in the State Department has to
date produced a mixed record. For former USIA employees, the transition has
meant a very difficult adjustment; while moving to the State Department has
afforded former USIA employees unprecedented career opportunities, it has also
required them to conform to the procedures of a Department that is overly
centralized and hierarchical. The Commission finds the morale among the
Department's "new" employees is worringly low, but morale is a major problem
throughout the entire Department, not just among former USIA employees.
"Although USIA personnel have gone through a very difficult transition, the
programs they administer have been affected to a lesser degree. Fortunately,
exchanges continue apace, as do information and speaker programs and other
public diplomacy activities, although implementation has become more cumbersome
under the State Department. Credit for this, the Commission believes, goes to
the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs for her work in
raising the profile of public diplomacy in the Department and tireless pursuing
the goal of integration. Of course, without the dedication and effort of the
Department's public diplomacy officers--those in Washington and abroad as well
as those State officers who have worked on the transition, success would never
be possible. Despite their efforts, it will take several years before public
diplomacy becomes an accepted "cone" in the Department and is recognized for the
value it brings to U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives.
"When consolidation was first proposed in 1997, its supporters in Congress
expected it to be accompanied by a reinvention of the way the United States
conducts and carries out its foreign affairs. Consolidation was launched last
October, though much remains to be done to smooth the transition from USIA into
State. The Commission looks forward to the day when real reinvention will
follow." |
