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Proposals for the Obama Administration

From Public Diplomacy Council

- Basic Principles on Improving U.S. Public Diplomacy
- Reforming U.S. International Broadcasting for a New Era

Basic Principles on Improving U.S. Public Diplomacy

The Public Diplomacy Council believes that efforts to strengthen U.S. public diplomacy must be based on the following premises:

1. Effective public diplomacy is essential to the nation’s long-term national security interests and must have active White House oversight and commensurate importance in the U.S. budgetary and policy processes.

2. To regain credibility overseas, the U.S. must engage in genuine dialogue rather than one-directional communication.

3. Reinvigorated research on global public opinion must be available to policy-makers so they may judge the impact of policies and pronouncements.

4. Public diplomacy programs must be nimble, flexible and networked, keeping pace with contemporary geopolitical challenges and technological opportunities.

5. Significant and sustained increases in U.S. government funding for public diplomacy programs worldwide are imperative and should include resources for robust planning, analysis and evaluation.

6. Exchange programs at all levels require increased funding, and U.S.-funded non-military international broadcasting must be restructured and reformed; these nonpartisan programs reflect the diversity of thought and opinion in the United States.

7. The public diplomacy profession needs sustenance and recognition—more staff, more training in tradecraft, American studies and language proficiency, better career tracks, and more involvement in public diplomacy activities from the entire foreign affairs community.

8. The continued expansion of partnerships with American businesses, citizens and the NGO community will enhance public diplomacy programs.

9. The basic tenets of the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, the Educational and Cultural Affairs Charter and the VOA Charter must continue to guide public diplomacy activities.

10. Senior public diplomacy leadership must be granted direct authority over personnel and budgets, and the budget separation of policy advocacy from educational and cultural activities must be maintained.

11. The public diplomacy and strategic communication activities of all U.S. government agencies require greater coordination.

12. Instantaneous global communications make it impossible for the U.S. government to segregate information intended for domestic and foreign audiences; the Smith-Mundt Act must be amended accordingly.

Reforming U.S. International Broadcasting for a New Era

By broad consensus of its members, the Public Diplomacy Council strongly recommends to the new Administration and Congress an urgent reform of America’s publicly funded international broadcasting.

Why is immediate action critical?

- There is widespread bipartisan public awareness of the need for such a reform.

- The nation must again communicate effectively with a still dangerous but more connected world. Strategically important target areas such as Russia, the Balkans, India and our own hemisphere have been ignored or downgraded since 2001.

- The Broadcasting Board of Governors which administers U.S. overseas networks has taken special aim at the Voice of America. The Board has abolished the VOA Arabic Service and reduced its broadcasts in English to the Middle East and other regions. Flexibility is essential, but decisions require real strategy and analysis.

- VOA, largest of a multiplicity of networks, must have fully integrated radio, television and Internet platforms to compete in a digital world.

- The jerrybuilt architecture of U.S. international broadcasting must be streamlined if it is to be an effective presence in Muslim countries and elsewhere. A free flow of information is essential to America’s national security and foreign policy.

Recommended steps for a new administration include:

An immediate restoration of all radio services reduced at the Voice of America in FY 08. On July 26, 2008, twelve days before Russia invaded Georgia, the BBG silenced VOA Russian radio, and then ignored subsequent appeals to restore it. On September 30, the Board abolished VOA radio services in Serbian, Bosnian, and Macedonian and in the Hindi service to India, provisionally retaining Ukrainian and Georgian. This action directly contravened Congressional passage last December of an FY 08 appropriation prohibiting all cuts. The impact: loss of nine million listeners on the eve of a landmark U.S. presidential election.

A fundamental restructuring. The Broadcasting Board of Governors should be replaced by a new nonpartisan oversight commission that would assume more of an advisory role, leaving daily management in the hands of a commission-appointed professional CEO, the VOA director, and the presidents of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcast Networks (Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV), and Radio-TV Marti to Cuba. Through direct and public reporting on a regular basis, the commission should be accountable to the legislative and executive branches of the federal government for operations of all these networks, including program content.

A long range commitment to consolidation and integration of the networks. The CEO of international broadcasting should immediately formulate a new strategic plan, 2010-2014, that would include a series of target dates for the consolidation of all five broadcast entities into a single international network. The goal: cost savings aimed at making U.S. global broadcasting unmatched on the airwaves and in cyberspace.

Cooperation with private sector public service NGOs. It has been a decade since the consolidation of the United States Information Agency into the Department of State except broadcasting. During that time, non-governmental, nonprofit American media beamed overseas have grown rapidly. U.S.-funded international networks should collaborate with this community and draw strength and support from it.

Full transparency in research, newsgathering and program distribution among the five networks. The CEO should abolish the International Broadcasting Bureau, placing its administrative functions related to VOA within VOA, as is now the case with the other four networks. An office of Engineering and Technical support should continue to provide state of the art distribution channels for all of them. The CEO should be empowered to coordinate all program and technical operations to eliminate redundancies, cut costs, and straighten out tangled lines of authority.

Reiteration of missions. The full service official Voice of America is chartered by Public Law 103-415 to present world and U.S. news that is accurate, objective and comprehensive, to reflect America in all its diversity, as well as to present U.S. policies and policy debates. Surrogate broadcast networks, on the other hand, focus on countries or regions they are mandated to reach, serving as alternate free media to areas where information is denied or is deficient. In several areas of the world, both types of broadcasting may be needed. Their shared commitment to credibility and programming quality augur well for the future.

A focus on high quality programming and effective use of funds. Priorities include:

- Maintaining at the Voice of America core services essential to the nation’s security: a strengthened central news service and important languages such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and particularly our own predominant language, English. VOA Arabic should be restored immediately under this proposal. Neither Radio Sawa, despite its popularity, nor Alhurra TV, despite its wide availability, offers consistent, authoritative news and perspective.

- Essential throughout U.S. international broadcasting: in-depth news and programming content for elites as well as youth and rural audiences.

- Interactive programming taking full advantage of Internet technology, chat lines, and cell phone distribution. Radio should be retained at present levels at all the networks, committed to promoting a global dialogue and journalistic integrity protected by law.

- Sufficient funds and flexibility for crisis surge broadcasting. In the troubled world of this digital age characterized by the 24/7 multimedia news cycle, such agility is essential.

Conclusion

This paper does not request additional funding for U.S. international broadcasting. Indeed, we believe that if our recommendations are carried out, some savings may be realized. A new administration and Congress then can forge a more efficient, more cost effective international broadcasting structure as America seeks to build new political, financial and cultural alliances in the years ahead.

Reprinted with permission of the Public Diplomacy Council

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http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/101.htm
Created: 24 November 2008.

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