United States, THE ROLE OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN SUPPORT LL KF 27 .I549 2001d COPY 1 HANY OF T HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 10, 2001 Serial No. 107-47 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international_relations 75-634PDF U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 2001 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York ELTON GALLEGLY, California NICK SMITH, Michigan JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania JEFF FLAKE, Arizona BRIAN D. KERNS, Indiana JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia TOM LANTOS, California DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, Georgia JIM DAVIS, Florida ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BARBARA LEE, California JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York GRACE NAPOLITANO, California ADAM B. SCHIFF, California DIANE E. WATSON, California Marc Nathanson, Chairman, Broadcasting Board of Governors Ambassador Kenton Keith, Senior Vice President for Programming, Meridian LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Henry J. Hyde, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, and Chairman, Committee on International Relations: Prepared The Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement The Honorable Charlotte Beers: Prepared statement Information submitted for the record by the Honorable Dana Rohrabacher, (III) 69 THE ROLE OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN SUPPORT OF THE ANTI-TERRORISM CAMPAIGN WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2001 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:15 a.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry J. Hyde (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Chairman HYDE. The Committee will come to order. As Americans we are justly proud of our country. If any nation has been a greater force for good in the long and tormented history of this world, I am unaware of it. We have guarded whole continent from conquest, showered aid on distant lands, sent thousands of youthful idealists to remote and often inhospitable areas to help the world's forgotten. Our generosity is a matter of record from rebuilding our defeated enemies to feeding tens of millions around the world. Why then, when we read or listen to descriptions of America in the foreign press, do we so often seem to be entering a fantasy land of hatred? Much of the popular press overseas, often including the government-owned media, daily depict the United States as a force for evil, accusing this country of an endless number of malevolent plots against the world. Today, as we strike against the terrorists in Afghanistan who masterminded the murder of thousands of Americans, our actions are widely depicted in the Muslim world as a war against Islam. Our efforts at self-defense which should be supported by every decent person on this planet, instead spark riots that threaten governments that dare cooperate with us. The poisonous image of the United States that is deliberately propagated around the world is more than a mere irritation. It has a direct and negative impact on American interests, not only by undermining our foreign policy goals, but by endangering the safety of Americans here at home and abroad. How has this state of affairs come about? How is it that the country that invented Hollywood and Madison Avenue has such trouble promoting a positive image of itself overseas? Clearly, this situation has not emerged suddenly or without warning. It has been building for decades, even as we stood and watched. Over the years, the images of mindless hatred directed at us have appeared on our television screens with sickening regularity. All this time we have heard calls that something must be done. But clearly, whatever has been done has not been enough. The question facing us is what can we do to correct this problem? (1) |