Rethinking US International Broadcasting: A Conversation on Mission, Strategy, and Organization

The Woodrow Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy program, present

Rethinking U.S. International Broadcasting: A Conversation on Mission, Strategy and Organization

Wednesday, 22 April, 2015, 4:00pm-5:30pm
Woodrow Wilson Center, 5th Floor Conference Room

Event description: By many accounts, U.S. international broadcasting’s mission is unclear, its attachment to U.S. foreign policy strategies tenuous, and its organizational structure ineffective.  Many see the entire enterprise as broken.  For a new assessment, “Reassessing U.S. International Broadcasting,” co-authors S. Enders Wimbush and Elizabeth M. Portale interviewed some 30 individuals with extensive experience in foreign policy strategy, international relations, international broadcasting, public diplomacy, and promotion of human rights and democracy. Join us in a panel discussion chaired by A. Ross Johnson addressing these questions:

• What is U.S. international broadcasting supposed to do, and how should it do it?  What kind of strategic instrument is U.S. international broadcasting today?
• What is the nature of the connection between U.S. international broadcasting and U.S. foreign and security policy?
• How should U.S. international broadcasting be organized to optimize both mission and strategy?

Two of the report interviewees --- James Glassman and Carl Gershman - and R. Eugene Parta (co-author of a previous report on U.S. international broadcasting reform) will offer their perspectives on these issues.