Comments on: World Views of the Elections: So What?

By: The spin cycle | Antony Loewenstein

The spin cycle | Antony Loewenstein — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:39:35 +0000

[...] After several months offline, former U.S. Foreign Service officer John Brown has reactivated his “Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review,” which summarizes current news about public relations efforts by the United States and other countries. Brown’s latest bulletin includes several items on the State Department’s “Democracy Challenge,” a YouTube contest asking global citizens to complete the sentence, “Democracy is…” Other recent items discuss the PR damage to Russia’s image following its invasion of Georgia; results of a recent survey examining international preferences in the U.S. presidential election race; and links to video archives of old Soviet propaganda cartoons; and an essay by Brown himself about the difference between public diplomacy and propaganda. [...]

By: Public Diplomacy » Blog Archive » Two Foreign Perspectives on US Election

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:20:38 +0000

[...] A while back I addressed a popular reaction to Senator Barack Obama’s broad popularity outside the US: why does it matter what the world thinks? [...]

By: Philip

Philip — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:56:12 +0000

The Daily Mail is an extremely embittered, angry and frequently irrational publication that preys on people's worst emotions and fears. If it was knocking the BBC it was for the purposes of petty political point scoring (which sells well), although such ignorance of the importance of global public opinion is typical of their ideology and indeed that of their demographic.

I agree with Sinclair's point about the fall of journalism. As with my above point, terrible journalism can be seen the world over but at least in most places there is an alternative.

By: kate calle

kate calle — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:01:52 +0000

The 2008 election effects everyone. I am trying to collect data on what those who cannot vote in the 2008 election would do if the decision were in there hands. The results will be posted late October and we will submit a press release. Please vote at http://www.iwishicouldvote.com and tell anyone else who would be interested.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:43:53 +0000

Sinclair,
You voice my own concerns regarding media coverage in America. I try to research alternative news sources and perspectives but know, for many, most coverage is gathered from one's favorite evening program or paper. I remember when the war first began and I listened to our news coverage declare that Iraq's political leaders were lying to their people through media, leading them to believe they were winning the war. All I could think of at that moment was how do I know that I am not being lied to? There are many people I know who feel this way, investigate, and try to keep themselves informed. I value the opinions of the world abroad and believe they are important. We do live in a time of globalization, where our markets, communications, and foreign policies affect more than the citizens at home but the relationships of nations. In regards to this elections, I have never seen so many every day citizens actively motivate others to vote. I know this is a sign of unrest and a desire among people to know the truth and make changes. I hope, I hope, I hope.

By: Sinclair

Sinclair — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:53:39 +0000

I would offer one more consideration or way of interpreting these international polls. I realized this in the last election, where world opinion polls were at 3% for GW Bush, but 53% of Americans voted for him. I think this is direct evidence of what I have called in other articles (and a book chapter) “The Electronic Curtain”. I think the polls indicate a marked difference between U.S. media and media beyond U.S. borders. Why would there be a 50% difference of opinion between the American public and the European public? The same applies to this poll that you are blogging about; I believe the U.S. media isolates Americans from journalism outside the borders, and the U.S. mainstream mass media shapes American public opinion into something quite divergent from world opinion. I saw the same phenomenon leading up to the Iraq war. The U.S. media was very suspiciously dominated by damning CIA stories (”spun” by the White House), and when I observed the European media, they were reporting ABOUT the U.S. media stories with an inherent subtext that the White House seemed determined on justifying a pre-emptive war. Inside America, the media was missing that European angle. From Europe, we could see the agenda being set, but Americans could not see that obvious agenda by watching news from behind the electronic curtain. The same thing is probably happening right now. It is not that Europeans are less informed, rather they are not exposed to the very Americanized version of evening news.

One last note to support my thoughts on this. I had not been behind the electronic curtain for some years and went to America a year after the war started, and I was absolutely shocked at the obvious propaganda that my fellow Americans absolutely did not notice. The waving electronic flag of patriotism behind the news anchor, the noble marching band music as the bold title “Operation Iraqi Freedom” came onto the screen, the coverage of the war that had what was very much like a weather map, except iconic tank formations with intrusion arrows and slick military language indicating clear skies (a sun icon at the top of the map) for the Air Force to carry out some seemingly bloodless “operation”. All this taken together was shocking for me to see, and nobody questioned the message or the war with its slick commercial packaging. I teach journalism at a university, and I must say my view of journalism calls into question what U.S. journalism has mutated into.

In short, I propose the argument that those polls indicate there is a different media going on behind an electronic curtain, and that seems in some ways worse than an iron curtain because at least you could see that iron curtain, but this new curtain encloses people's minds, and it is insidiously invisible.

By: Dennis Jett

Dennis Jett — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:27:43 +0000

John: You will not be surprised to know that I agree that the opinion of people abroad matters. Those who believe otherwise perhaps have not heard about globalization nor do they realize that the world's only super power is not all powerful. The gravest problems we face are ones that ignore national boundaries. To address them we have to work with other countries. The degree to which those countries are willing to cooperate and accept American leadership (when there is some) is directly related to how people in those countries view our government and the man (or potentially woman in the case of Ms. Palin) that is running it.