Public Diplomacy Archives - Page 5 of 7

International Broadcasting, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Voice of America continues one-sided coverage of U.S.-Russian relations

By Ted Lipien December 28, 2010

TedLipien.com, Truckee, California, December 28, 2010 — I wrote earlier about unbalanced coverage by the Voice of America English Service of the START treaty debate in the U.S. Senate.

Here is another stunning example of a completely one-sided report by VOA on U.S.-Russian relations. There is not a single sentence in this report about Congressional or any other U.S. domestic or international criticism of President Obama’s approach to managing relations with the Kremlin.

In my entire career with VOA spanning more than two decades, I’ve never seen such government PR being presented as thought-provoking, objective and balanced news and information. Not a word about critical comments by Senator John McCain, Senator George Voinovich, Senator Jim DeMint, or Senator Mitch McConnell.

Why U.S. Public Diplomacy No Longer Works and Can It Be Fixed?

By Ted Lipien December 27, 2010

Update: America.gov restored my comment.
TedLipien.com, Truckee, California, December 27, 2010 — On the day the U.S. Senate voted to approve the new arms reduction treaty with Russia, I found an article on the State Depatment’s website, America.gov, which gave a long list of the START treaty’s benefits lauded by the Obama administration but failed to note any of the objections from some key Republican lawmakers and other critics. I posted a short comment that a website devoted to public diplomacy, with a name that implies that it represents the views of the entire American government and the American public, should try to present a more balanced perspective and mention some of the difficulties in getting the U.S.-Russian agreement approved by the Senate.

Misleading foreign audiences – America.gov or America.STATE – U.S. Senate Ratifies New START Treaty

By Ted Lipien December 22, 2010

Update: America.gov restored my comment.

TedLipien.com, Truckee, California, December 22, 2010 — I found a factually correct but at the same time completely one-sided report for foreign audiences on America.gov – a State Department website – which claims to have some journalistic objectivity. I posted my comment to the story, which was promptly removed. I recreate it here from memory:

Voice of America English programs go the way of Voice of Russia, says former VOA journalist

By Ted Lipien December 22, 2010

FreeMediaOnline.org Truckee, CA, USA, December 19, 2010 — In their eagerness to promote the Obama Administration policies to overseas audiences, the Voice of America (VOA) English Service reporters and editors have been toeing the White House line on the proposed START arms reductions treaty with Russia and failing to report in a balanced way on the substantial Republican opposition to the treaty, as they are required to do by U.S. law which governs their journalistic work.

Public Diplomacy, Russia

Putin’s signal to Congress on START – We don’t kill traitors in America

By Ted Lipien December 17, 2010

TedLipien.com, Truckee, CA, December 17, 2010 — The START treaty must be very good for Russia if Prime Minister Putin felt it necessary to disavow a reported statement given earlier to the media by an unitentified Kremlin official who suggested that an assassin or assassins may have been dispatched to the U.S. to kill a former Russian spy suspected of betraying a group of sleeper Russian agents. The earlier story, although not reported widely by mainstream U.S.media, was not good public relations and public diplomacy since it implied the Kremlin’s intention to violate U.S. laws on American soil. He may have been advised to issue a denial to help win the approval for the START treaty in the U.S. Senate.

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Leaked U.S. Embassy Warsaw Cables – Obama to the Poles: Have some Patriot missiles that don’t work to protect you from Russia

By Ted Lipien December 7, 2010

Obama to the Poles: Have some Patriot missiles that don’t work to protect you from Russia

Opinia.US Truckee, CA, December 6, 2010 — The Guardian newspaper in the U.K. has released and commented on a number of leaked U.S. cables dealing with Poland. There needs to be a much greater scrutiny of these cables by mainstream U.S. media and political pressure from Polonia voters to force President Obama to change his course on Poland.

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Media Disinformation Influenced U.S. Diplomatic Report from Russia

By Ted Lipien December 6, 2010

Opinia.US Truckee, CA, December 5, 2010 — A newly disclosed secret cable to the State Department in Washington shows that American diplomats in Moscow sometimes fall for Russian media disinformation and pass it on without questioning while adding their own pro-Kremlin commentary. Most diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, which have been released so far by WikiLeaks, seem, however, far more sceptical and critical of the Kremlin.

Czech Court Rules RFE/RL Cannot Discriminate Against Its Own Foreign Journalists

By Ted Lipien December 5, 2010

FreeMediaOnline.org Truckee, CA, USA, December 02, 2010 — A court in the Czech Republic has ruled that a former Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Armenian broadcaster Anna Karapetian should not have been fired using RFE/RL’s personnel procedures which deprive non-American and non-Czech employees of some of the protections of Czech labor laws. [quote_right]Czech senator Jaromir Stetina, deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, called discrimination of RFE/RL foreign employees “patently indecent, unfair, cynical and hypocritical.”[/quote_right] RFE/RL is a semi-private entity funded and managed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. government agency.

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Leaked State Department Cables Show Obama and Gates Naive on Russia

By Ted Lipien November 30, 2010

by Ted Lipien

Opinia.US Truckee, CA, November 29, 2010 — Leaked secret State Department cables may help to resolve the mystery as to why President Obama chose September 17, 2009 to make his announcement on canceling President Bush’s missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The announcement pleased the Kremlin, which had been pushing for the cancellation of the planned system for years. But why the Obama White House made the announcement on September 17, the anniversary of the Soviet military invasion of Poland in 1939 under the secret terms of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, is still not clear.

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Announcement about sending Russian killers to the U.S. is a sign of the Kremlin’s contempt for Obama

By Ted Lipien November 14, 2010

Update: President Obama has so much invested in the “reset” of relations with Russia (read: Medvedev and Putin) that he can’t bring himself to condemn this public rebuke from the Kremlin and a flagrant challenge to him, U.S. laws and sovereignty.

Cold War, Poland, Public Diplomacy

Polish Americans and the 1944 U.S. Elections

By Ted Lipien November 1, 2010

Update: The results of the mid-term elections have shown that American voters have had a chance to evaluate President Obama and have strongly rejected his leadership. While economic and other domestic issues played a major role, it was also a vote of no confidence in his foreign policy.

“Hunger for God and Love” – Interview with Cardinal Karol Wojtyła

By Ted Lipien October 16, 2010

The radio interview, recorded and first broadcast by the Voice of America (VOA) in 1976, was rebroadcast by VOA’s Polish Service on October 16, 1978, after the news of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła’s election as the new pope had been announced at the Vatican. Today is the 32 anniversary of the election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope John Paul II.

Short Version

Full Version

Listen to excerpt (in Polish) of 1976 Voice of America (VOA ) interview with Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Ted Lipien talked with future Pope John Paul II in Washington, DC.

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Reposting from Sept. 16, 2009: September 17 could be a new date in US-Polish relations

By Ted Lipien September 17, 2010

On the 71 anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, we are republishing our Sept. 16, 2009 blog post, in which we asked the Obama Administration to consider the significance of the 1939 division of Poland by Hitler and Stalin before making the White House announcement on the cancelation of the ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Poland: “September 17 could be a new date in US-Polish relations”

Public Diplomacy, Russia

US supporting – not exporting – democracy in Russia, says Obama

By Ted Lipien June 27, 2010

Democracy Digest from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED): Democracy remains on the US-Russian agenda, President Barack Obama said today. But it is best advanced through the dual track approach entailed in the reset of relations between the two states Follow this link: US supporting – not exporting – democracy in Russia, says Obama Sourced from: Free Media Online

Public Diplomacy, Russia

BBG Blamed for Armenian Genocide Denials on Congressionally-funded Radio Liberty

By Ted Lipien May 3, 2010

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 02, 2010, San Francisco — Armenian genocide and Holocaust denials in radio and TV reports generated by private contractors working for the Broadcasting Board of Governors are linked to mismanagement and flawed programming policy at this US taxpayer-funded Federal agency, says FreeMediaOnline, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization which works to promote independent journalism…