Save Public Diplomacy: Broadcasting America's Message Matters

Public diplomacy has never been the favorite child of U.S. foreign policy. More often it is considered a poor relation, faintly disreputable, with no particular merits in the past and of doubtful relevance in the present, not to be discarded altogether but kept at a safe distance. However, during the last year the attitudes of influential congressmen have turned from indifference to hostility. Some important United States Information Agency (USIA) programs have been discontinued, others radically scaled down. When the Congress returns from its recess, further cuts can be expected. The attitude of the Clinton administration has been generally apathetic; one of its first initiatives was to phase out the Munich-based radio stations Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Recently a substantial group of freshman lawmakers spent hours on the House and the Senate floors attempting to kill the National Endowment for Democracy, a small but very effective organization that helps democratic forces in formerly undemocratic countries, the total budget of which ($35 million) is less than the cost of a F-18 jet fighter. The decline in public diplomacy efforts has taken place over a long time; 12,600 people were employed by USIA in 1967; the number now is 8,500 and falling. The number of those stationed abroad has been halved. The agency's budget in real terms is less than it was in 1970. What made legislators accustomed to swallowing camels strain at gnats?

WHY THE STATIC?

There are several explanations, but none of them is entirely convincing, and to some extent the issue remains shrouded in mystery. America, the home of Madison Avenue, pioneered public relations. Advertising, in the widest sense, has always been appreciated in the United States, which spends more for this purpose than any other country. Yet, while America spends huge amounts selling cigarettes and soft drinks, it is not selling America. A single company, Philip Morris, spent more in one year on advertising, $2 billion in 1990, than the combined budgets of all U.S. agencies, official and semiofficial, engaged in public diplomacy.