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.
I don't think PR is the problem, but knock yourself out Karen.
|