Tag: diplomacy

National Security, Anti-Americanism, The “War on Terror” and new methods in public diplomacy

Posted on

‘Democracy on Deadline’

The power of the media as a make-or-break element in a functioning democracy sets the foundation for a journalist’s struggle to seek out and report the honest truth. But how does the role of a free press factor into the vitality of a free society?

These concepts are examined vividly in the exceptional documentary, Democracy on Deadline by director Calvin Skaggs (Go Tell it On the Mountain) and co-producer Jed Rothstein. The documentary puts the audience in the position of several of the world’s finest journalists, complete with candid interviews and not-seen-before-in-America footage that is in one way reminiscent of Control Room, the 2004 documentary on the Arab-language satellite network, Al Jazeera International.

The filmmaking and production of “Democracy on Deadline” is outstanding, mixing uniquely regional experiences with candid exchanges and graphic footage over the course of two hours. In one memorable instance, the audience is literally in the back seat of a car driven by Ha’aretz correspondent Gideon Levy, delayed at a checkpoint at the West Bank border crossing. This is not business as usual, we’re assured, when Levy gets on his cell phone, enraged that the border guards were not previously notified and waiting for him to cross with American journalists in tow.

“Democracy on Deadline” examines issues and struggles regarding press freedom around the world through an examination of six unique (and high-profile) case studies in progress. The film profiles various journalists in different settings — all taking relatively radical approaches to reporting and exuding a vociferous enthusiasm for their responsibilities as guardians of democracy.

In one segment, Dana Priest of the Washington Post is followed by a camera as she works security insiders (watch quicktime video) at what appears to be a press event regarding the status of detainees in December 2004. We watch Priest at her desk taking notes as she digs deeper and deeper for dirt on her CIA black prisons article, nearly a year before she would publish the core piece in her package that landed her a Pulitzer.

Continue reading “‘Democracy on Deadline’”

Posted on

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

This headline-writing warmup exercise is brought to you by the 1963 Stanley Kramer directed classic by the same name.

But if there ever were a better time to say it’s a mad mad mad mad world, I’d rather be channeling Mel Brooks. Though Brooks had no part in the aforementioned flick (He was coming of age as the 2000-year-old man w/ Carl Reiner), dude is hilarious — and I am overjoyed to report that he is in production on Spaceballs: The Animated Series. Excpect it sometime next year on the Cartoon Network.

OK – have a great day, and as the promo button said, “may the schwartz be with you.” You’ll need the Schwartz for sure if you’re reading Brooks’ son Max’s book, World War Z, in which he survives zombie domination.

(And a Ferris Bueller stinger — on [Islamofasc]-ism, it seems — to roll out of bed to. Stay the course.

Ferris Bueller - "-isms" [ 0:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Posted on

Ex-U.S. Diplomats on Anti-Americanism

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy hosted an excellent roundtable this afternoon with 3 former U.S. Foreign Services Officers and diplomats, all of whom resigned in reaction to the Bush Administration’s plans for War in Iraq. The theme was Anti-Americanism and there were certainly an abundance of questions, and considering the audience and panelists, there was quite a breadth of p.o.v. in the answers. Ann Wright, a 29-year U.S. Military veteran and more recently a leading activist from Cindy Sheehan’s “Camp Casey,” joined John H. Brown and the author John Brady Kiesling. Listen to audio from the event below. To subscribe to the Public Diplomacy Events podcast (which I produce), click here.

John Brown, Brady Kiesling, Ann Wright at USC Center on Public Diplomacy, September 27, 2006 [ 1:39:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Posted on

CNN Poll: How Do You Like Your Congress?

cnn vote hate your congress

For international netZoo readers, yes, the United States is still a democracy in which the people elect their Congressional representatives. But, who really wants a job where they can only satisfy 5 percent? The incumbency conundrum is not as unrelenting as, say the neverending reign of a Castro or Idi Amin. Another year of nothing but procrastination, pandering to the Bush Administration, and shrugging away plans and objectives just as quickly as they’re put on the table combined with the ineptitude of the 435 two-year House terms (in other words, one year of doing nothing, and a second year of campaigning for reelection) has left us with an ineffective, corrupt, and disgraceful Legislature.

So, now it inevitably “see ya later, Joe” in Connecticut. But no matter the situation in Iraq, whose gonna speak up for our soldiers — left blind without a plan and several billion dollars short?

In the fallout of the weekend’s intel report clarifying yet again that the Iraq War has made the world less safe, President Bush’s own church, the United Methodist Church, has launched “a week of protest and civil disobedience against the war in Iraq by signing a declaration of peace urging President Bush to pull U.S. troops out of the country.”

On the optimistic side of things — Pew Internet has released Part II of their “Future of the Internet” study and according to NYT, the future is bright and green.