Mixed Messages: The US' (Mis)Communication Problem

The United States has a bit of a dilemma on its hands. We are experiencing an increased level of interest in Public Diplomacy, Strategic Communications, and Social Media, but the State Department doesn't really yet understand the best methods for reaching their target audiences. The Foreign Relations Committe Report from June 2010 flatly states as such in the first few paragraphs. The major issue, I believe is the US' past reliance on "market forces" or similar to do the heavy lifting, so to speak. Merely having the VOA, Radio Free Asia, Alhurra, and other US-sponsored news, entertainment, and communications agencies in the general target regions is not enough to make target audiences tune in.

I think a more pressing issue is that it is becoming increasingly untenable to try and deliver multiple messages to discrete groups worldwide, let alone the same geographical region. If we do encourage more people to get linked into social media and telecom networks to foster democratic and civil society ideals, we are also risking one group being exposed to messages intended for the other; all in all, an exercise in both redundancy and confusion. At least, this is what more traditional Foreign Policy experts would say to this prospect.

We've discussed this in class somewhat, but the USA could do a lot better through its various information agencies if it wasn't so afraid of bad press or imperfections in message. It would likely go a long way towards improving relations with foreign publics if the US would cop to its media missteps more quickly, honestly, and with genuine candor, rather than officious airs. Similarly, if we can create a consistent theme for discussion and transmission over the airwaves, then the individual message and method of delivery could be left up to the experts in each divisions' office. Who is to say that every PD effort needs to go through the same sort of channels in every instance? Some regions might respond better to radio, others might cotton to Twitter. I think that the implementation of our country's PD can not be handled  by Secretary Clinton making speeches condemning Internet censoring; rather, we need people on the ground to actively promote these ideals.