Spreading the Truth or Lies in Disguise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Spreading the Truth or Lies in Disguise - Essay Example This definition of public diplomacy is concise because it contains three elements that mark its specific role in the over-all practice of international relations and that would serve as a limiting aspect of the study contained in this paper. Government-Sponsored It is â€Å"government-sponsored.† This term limits the scope of the practice of public diplomacy to that which is carried out by the government. While private corporations and institutions also carry out activities that achieve the same objective of informing or influencing public opinion, it could be said that the more important activity of public diplomacy, especially in recent years, is that which nations and states carry out. In the United States, for example, public diplomacy is carried out by the Department of State through its U.S. Information Agency, with the help of many other public and private institutions, such as universities, cultural associations, aid agencies, and its military, among others. In the Uni ted Kingdom, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office carry it out with the help of the British Council, the BBC World Service and private think tanks such as the Foreign Policy Centre, again among many other institutions equipped for the task. Every government carries out a substantial amount of public diplomacy which is different from the common understanding of diplomacy because the normal channels of top-level government relations are not enough for any state to handle the scope and amount of work needed to pursue its strategic interests. Traditionally, international relations to pursue a nation’s strategic interests involved only the political, economic and military aspects. Lately, however,... The report covers the growing importance of public diplomacy highlights the importance of consistency and a unity between the starting and end points of the exercise to communicate a message. The starting point, the government in the case of public diplomacy, originates and packages the message and chooses the medium or media through which the message is transmitted. The end point, the foreign audience or external public, is the intended recipient of the message. However, while the internal public is not included in this equation, they also play an important role, since the factors that contributed to the growing popularity of public diplomacy are also the same factors that affect its utility or not. This paper makes a concluison that this is the reason why there must be consistency between the reality and the message and media used. The message need not be an idealization of reality, but realistic enough so that it could be perceived as objective and sincere. The support of the internal or local public is crucial in this regard, because any messages of inconsistency from this public can do great harm to the message crafted by those who carry out the work of public diplomacy. There is likewise a need to respect the foreign audience’s response. When they do not absorb the message nor change public opinion or, perhaps even worsen it, public diplomacy becomes more crucial and important. Its goal should not be to get everyone to think alike, but rather to help others develop a balanced view of how a country sees its goals as mutually beneficial. Public diplomacy can effect a change in strategic goals if needed.