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terça-feira, julho 26, 2005
How can a man in a cave outcommunicate the world’s leading communications society?
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How can a man in a cave outcommunicate the world’s leading communications society?
Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations.
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Anti-Americanism is deeper and broader than at any time in modern history. It is most acute in the Muslim world, but the phenomenon spans the globe – from Europe to Asia, from South America to Africa.
The deterioration in America’s image abroad has confounded the nation that invented the public relations industry. The US appears to have lost the power to persuade, except at the barrel of a gun.
As the Pew Center’s Global Opinion Survey reported in March: “In the eyes of others, the US is a worrisome colossus, too quick to act unilaterally, too slow to solve the world’s problems, too prone to widening the global gulf between rich and poor.”
US power has long been a source of envy and resentment. What is new is that US motives have become a source of mistrust. “Brand America” is in trouble. So what is to be done?
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Marketers define a brand as a promise kept. During the cold war, the US brand was strong as the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe spread the message of freedom to a receptive audience. Today, says Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, the US is not only losing the battle in public diplomacy, “it is barely in the game”.
Roughly $1 out of every $100 of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid; only five cents goes to public diplomacy, defined as governments communicating with the citizens of other countries. Other tools to encourage goodwill towards the US have been woefully neglected. Educational exchanges have fallen away, partly because of the tight visa policy enforced after September 11.
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In the short term, the London bombings may make that pitch harder to sell. But without a balanced approach and a renewed effort at public diplomacy, the US risks losing the war on terror. Ms Hughes might care to re-read the October 2003 memo sent by Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary.
Mr Rumsfeld considered whether the US was killing, capturing, deterring or dissuading more terrorists than the radical clerics were recruiting, training and deploying.
“The US is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists. The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is billions against the terrorists’ costs of millions.”
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FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment - America’s soft power needs hard work
How can a man in a cave outcommunicate the world’s leading communications society?
Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations.
...
Anti-Americanism is deeper and broader than at any time in modern history. It is most acute in the Muslim world, but the phenomenon spans the globe – from Europe to Asia, from South America to Africa.
The deterioration in America’s image abroad has confounded the nation that invented the public relations industry. The US appears to have lost the power to persuade, except at the barrel of a gun.
As the Pew Center’s Global Opinion Survey reported in March: “In the eyes of others, the US is a worrisome colossus, too quick to act unilaterally, too slow to solve the world’s problems, too prone to widening the global gulf between rich and poor.”
US power has long been a source of envy and resentment. What is new is that US motives have become a source of mistrust. “Brand America” is in trouble. So what is to be done?
...
Marketers define a brand as a promise kept. During the cold war, the US brand was strong as the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe spread the message of freedom to a receptive audience. Today, says Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, the US is not only losing the battle in public diplomacy, “it is barely in the game”.
Roughly $1 out of every $100 of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid; only five cents goes to public diplomacy, defined as governments communicating with the citizens of other countries. Other tools to encourage goodwill towards the US have been woefully neglected. Educational exchanges have fallen away, partly because of the tight visa policy enforced after September 11.
...
In the short term, the London bombings may make that pitch harder to sell. But without a balanced approach and a renewed effort at public diplomacy, the US risks losing the war on terror. Ms Hughes might care to re-read the October 2003 memo sent by Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary.
Mr Rumsfeld considered whether the US was killing, capturing, deterring or dissuading more terrorists than the radical clerics were recruiting, training and deploying.
“The US is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists. The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is billions against the terrorists’ costs of millions.”
...
FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment - America’s soft power needs hard work
posted by CMT, 4:46 da tarde
