Main Page | Month Archive | Email Updates | RSS Feed

Editor-in-Chief Adam Clayton Powell, III writes on public diplomacy, politics and more from in and around Washington, D.C.

CHINESE TV EXTENDS ITS REACH INTO AFRICA
DEC 19, 2005 - 8:47AM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

NAIROBI – December 10 Is Africa becoming part of the Middle Kingdom? That is a popular question in the news recently: The week began with a Council on Foreign Relations report describing Africa's strategic importance to the United States. The report was comprehensive, but most American media accounts focused on one chapter, about energy, and how the Chinese were cultivating African oil, gas and other resources. The week ended with the publication of Andrew Neil's remarks at the Institute of Economic Affairs, in which he detailed China's economic growth and worldwide expansion. But here in Africa, you did not to…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (1) | Add Your Own

UN LEBANON REPORT PROMPTS WALL-TO-WALL LIVE COVERAGE ON AL JAZEERA
OCT 25, 2005 - 10:07AM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

WASHINGTON -- Oct. 22 Thursday night was a big night for Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language television news channel in the Middle East. The preemptive lead story was the release of the UN report on the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon. For most news organizations, it was a story worth at best three or four news reports. At Al Jazeera, editors decided this was the only story of the night. When the report was released, Al Jazeera's UN correspondent went to a small studio and read the report. On camera. All 54 pages of it. It…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (0) | Add Your Own

PRIORITY FOR KAREN HUGHES: GET REPORTERS OUT OF BAGHDAD
AUG 25, 2005 - 3:42PM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

As Karen Hughes begins to settle into her new office, she must see that one priority for U.S. public diplomacy is to get reporters out of Baghdad. No, not get reporters out of Iraq: Just get them out of their bureaus in the capital. The consensus of U.S. journalists in Baghdad is that it is just too dangerous to get out into the countryside, where they could report on what is happening - good and bad. But reporting what is happening - good and bad - should provide the world with a more complete picture of what the U.S. is…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (4) | Add Your Own

AUSTRALIA, NZ FOCUS ON US BY LOOKING AT US MEDIA
JUL 14, 2005 - 1:32PM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

LOS ANGELES, July 13 - Nothing fascinates media as much as, well, media. That is the lasting impression after an extended visit to New Zealand and Australia, which boast world-class commercial, public service and international broadcasters and first-rate newspapers. But looking at America through South Pacific lenses, the focus more often than not seemed on American media. Coverage of the U.S. debate over and involvement in Iraq was a case in point: Stories about the policy debate or even events in Iraq were sot news, typically short items on the latest White House statement or pictures of the car bomb…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (0) | Add Your Own

THE VIEW FROM DOWN UNDER: IT’S MORE CRUISE THAN HUGHES
JUL 12, 2005 - 12:14PM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

WASHINGTON, July 12 - There's truly no business like show business. That old song title was reinforced during a recent visit to Australia and New Zealand, where coverage of the U.S. was frequent, detailed and prominently played. But the lens through which America was presented to the South Pacific was not Wall Street or Capitol Hill. Day in and day out, coverage of Washington is trumped by coverage of Hollywood. True, the latest news from the White House merits a news spot or a brief story on the inside international news page. But it's Hollywood that gets the big play,…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (0) | Add Your Own

AL JAZEERA HELPS SPREAD DEMOCRACY, SAYS FORMER CRITIC PERLE
MAR 30, 2005 - 11:37AM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

WASHINGTON, March 30 – One of Al Jazeera’s fiercest critics in the U.S. now says the Arab satellite channel has become a vehicle to spread democracy in the Arab world. Acknowledging this reversal of his longtime criticism of the channel, Richard Perle this morning said Al Jazeera’s broadcasts of elections in Afghanistan and Iraq and anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon was advancing democracy in the region – just by the pictures it showed. “Images conveyed by Al Jazeera have been very powerful,” Perle said. Just a few years ago, Perle was complaining that Al Jazeera's powerful images of civilian casualties in…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (0) | Add Your Own

NO INDEPENDENT ARAB MEDIA EXIST, SAY ARAB JOURNALISTS
MAR 4, 2005 - 10:31AM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

WASHINGTON, March 4 -- There are no independent news organizations in the Arab world. That was the assertion of Arab journalists addressing a conference on Arab media today, who said the only truly independent voices in the Arab world are bloggers. Even the new satellite television networks, such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, were criticized -- including by one of Al-Arabiya’s anchors, Hisham Melham. He credited the new networks with breaking taboos and showing the Arab world through Arab eyes, instead of through the eyes of European and American observers. But the networks focus only on the extremists. “Misleading…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (0) | Add Your Own

REPORT URGES RESTRUCTURING, MORE RESOURCES FOR U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
JAN 25, 2005 - 12:44PM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- U.S. public diplomacy should be centered in a new federal agency with triple the current staff levels, according to a White Paper issued today by the Public Diplomacy Council, a non-partisan organization based here. The report also recommends permanent off-budget funding for international exchanges, increased funding for international broadcasting and a cabinet-level interagency coordinating committee. "United States public diplomacy is in crisis," the report stated. "Buffeted by a decade of budget cuts, hampered by bureaucratic structures that marginalize it and call on its expertise too late in the policy process, public diplomacy as currently constituted is…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (2) | Add Your Own

WOLFENSOHN ANNOUNCES PLANS TO STEP DOWN AT WORLD BANK AMID CRITICISM OF HIS TENURE
JAN 2, 2005 - 8:22PM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 -- A key post in global soft power will soon be vacant: James Wolfensohn confirmed today that he expects to step down as president of the World Bank when his current term ends this spring. Last month, Wolfensohn signaled he would not continue to serve, in a year-end message to the Bank's staff. Wolfensohn refered to "leadership succession" and "an effective transition" early in 2005, according to an account in the Washington Post. Wolfensohn first became president of the Bank on June 1, 1995, and he will have served for ten years when his current term ends…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (0) | Add Your Own

DIGITAL SOFT POWER
DEC 30, 2004 - 8:00PM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

US government criticized for slow aid, but tsunami relief attracts record private donations online WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 -- By the time President Bush spoke publicly yesterday and promised U.S. leadership in tsunami relief, a wave of donations from individuals had swept over the Internet. Google and amazon.com are among the popular Web sites that have added disaster relief links to their home pages, and those electronic bits of support are already adding up to millions of dollars, according to the Washington Post. By last night, amazon.com alone had raised $3 million from 53,000. That means amazon.com, by itself, has raised…... FULL TEXT
 
Read Comments (1) | Add Your Own