New plan aims to improve U.S. image

By Nicholas Kralev
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 9, 2005

Karen Hughes, the Bush administration's top public diplomacy official,
yesterday rolled out a "strategic framework" to improve the U.S. image
abroad, urging American ambassadors to step up their engagement with
foreign audiences.

Mrs. Hughes' plan focuses on promoting communication and better
understanding between ordinary Americans and their peers overseas, 
as well as enhancing Washington's ability to respond immediately to
"wrong information" in the foreign press.

As the United States is being depicted abroad in the most negative
light in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mrs. Hughes and other
State Department officials said U.S. missions abroad have been asked
to provide local news outlets with facts about the relief effort on a
daily basis.

Mrs. Hughes has been on the job for about a month but will be
officially sworn in as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy 
by President Bush today.

"We'll create a rapid response unit here at the State Department 
-- it's already in the works -- to monitor media and help us more
aggressively respond to rumors, inaccuracies and hate speech," she
said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said embassies will try
"to dispel any sort of myths and rumors out there" about Katrina's
aftermath, such as that the response to the disaster "was based on
something along class lines or along racial lines."

Mrs. Hughes mentioned the Katrina disaster briefly during her town
hall meeting with State Department employees, but the plan she
presented was largely designed as a response to the September 11
attacks and the Iraq war.

She did not bring up the notion shared by many around the world
that the U.S. image is suffering because of the administration's
policies.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, however, alluded to that
point of view.

"I know that sometimes it is difficult to see that this is a
history that is moving in the right direction, but I think as long as
we remain true to our values ... that we will one day stand here and
see that the world has been transformed, indeed, for the better," she
said.

Mrs. Hughes, whose new motto is "Engage, Exchange, Educate, Empower," 
proposed engagement on a more human level based on common values and 
interests, as well as creating a climate that promotes those values 
where they do not exist.

[...]

Source: Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050908-111058-6700r.htm


Cheers, Steve..

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