DUBAI --- Take a look at Barack Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo. It was beautifully written and radiated good intentions. The U.S. government relied heavily on new media tools to disseminate it throughout the Arab world and beyond. Arab opinion of Obama improved significantly; and then it dropped like a rock.

CPD Director Philip Seib, along with several other media experts, will be participating in the 10th Arab Media Forum in Dubai, UAE.

APDS Blogger: Jerry Edling

Faith-based Engagement as a Tool for Public Diplomacy

Ramin Mehmanparast, Spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry meet with Daniel Sergio Lopez emphasizing the ever increasing importance of public diplomacy in foreign policy, particularly the role of the audiovisual media in that respect.

When Lord Patten went before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee last month to lay out his credentials as the new chairman of the BBC Trust, he deliberately alighted on a key issue for programme makers and viewers: whether the BBC has become too risk-averse in its commissioning.

Public Diplomacy -- according to the US State Department, "engaging, informing, and influencing key international audiences" -- was coined in the mid-1960s by Dean Edmund Gullion of the Fletcher School of Diplomacy as a term meant to be more acceptable than propaganda.

While some streamlining of U.S. international broadcasting will be necessitated by the House Republicans’ proposed 10 percent cut in the BBG’s current $745 million budget, economies should clearly not be found by the wholesale elimination of key services.