September 2011: The View From CPD

The 10-year anniversary of 9/11 came and went without incident. There were, of course, countless tributes to that tragic day: scores of articles, retrospectives, commemorative events and memorials – both physical and virtual – were produced, not just in this country, but around the world. The United Kingdom unveiled a monument created from the wreckage of the Twin Towers, as well as a website dedicated to teaching schoolchildren in Britain about the events around this anniversary.

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy spent much of September reflecting on where U.S. public diplomacy stands today 10 years after the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. We hosted a public event around the topic on September 8 and published “U.S. Public Diplomacy post 9/11: From Messaging to Mutuality” by CPD Research Fellow, Kathy Fitzpatrick, in our CPD Perspectives on Public Diplomacy series which is excerpted in this issue of PDiN Monitor.

In addition to collecting the various stories and activities around September 11, this issue of PDiN Monitor also provides two original perspectives on this anniversary, one by Jerry Edling in “Good Will Hunting: U.S. Public Diplomacy Since 9/11,” and another by Mona El Hamdani in “The 9/11 Anniversary Though Arab Eyes.”

We hope that you continue to enjoy the new digital format of PDiN Monitor. As always, we encourage you to provide your feedback on the individual stories and engage in an interactive discussion on our website.