A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Rice Says China Must Not Use Olympics to Squash Dissent
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged China on Saturday not to use security concerns over next month's Olympics as a cover to crush political dissent.
Olympic Ticket Sales Descend into Melee in China
The scene outside Beijing's main Olympic ticket office descended into chaos on Friday as nearly 40,000 people hoping to see the Games overwhelmed officials, forcing police to block access to the site.
Charles Z. Wick: USIA Director Whose Task Was to ‘Tell America’s Story to the World’
Charles Z. Wick was the key figure in the revival of America's public diplomacy during the Reagan years. A close friend of the president, from 1981 to 1989 he directed the United States Information Agency (USIA) which was the home for the American government's international information and broadcasting from 1953 to 1999.
Good and bad in US public diplomacy
The United States' public diplomacy program since 9/11 has been one of the great self-induced hoaxes of modern American public life, managed for the most part by a frightening combination of misguided lightweights and over-the-top ideological zealots. So when I heard the other day that a new man was put in charge - Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman - I read a speech he made to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York outlining his plans and principles.
Group Threatens Olympics Attack, Claims Bombed Buses
A group calling itself the Turkistan Islamic Party released a video threatening the Beijing Olympic Games and claiming responsibility for recent deadly explosions on two Chinese buses, a terrorism monitoring firm said on Friday.
China Unveils Largest Delegation for Beijing
China's delegation for next month's Olympics will be the largest for any Games with 639 athletes representing the host nation in Beijing, sports minister Liu Peng said on Friday.
Chinese Snatch up Olympics Tickets
Tens of thousands of Chinese fans have purchased the last block of Olympic tickets released. Visitors arriving without tickets might find a couple of tickets available to something like the preliminary soccer heat between Belgium and New Zealand, but that’s about it. For the more prestigious events there will probably be some scalpers around. But they will have to be discreet in a city crawling with police who have announced a 10-15 day jail term for anyone caught re-selling tickets. And the prices will be crazy.
Charles Z. Wick
The USIA was a somewhat fusty backwater when Wick took over in 1981. Over the next eight years, as funding more than doubled, he transformed it into a well-oiled and highly effective element of American Cold War strategy – or as he rechristened it, "public diplomacy".
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