VOL. V NO. 12, May 22-June 04, 2009

McHale Confirmed, Controversy Continues

Judith McHale was sworn in on May 26th, 2009 to assume the duties of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, supporting Secretary of State Clinton and the State Department immediately, reports Steven Corman for COMOPS Journal. Corman points out that the final decision was lengthy.

“The final reading was 129 days between President Obama’s inauguration and swearing in the new PD Chief,” he comments.  While some presupposed that Public Diplomacy would be granted a lesser role in the State Department under the Obama administration, others suggested that “there may be a move afoot to duplicate DoS PD functions in the White House staff.“ This could further complicate the work of strategic communication.

US Senator Dick Lugar welcomed the Senate’s unanimous confirmation of Judith McHale as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, according to ISRIA.

“Ms. McHale brings serious business and media experience to this position that I trust will serve her well as she manages the world of traditional and new media and engages with the world to tell America’s story to the world and to listen to what they have to say,” Lugar said.

McHale’s previous experience at Discovery means she will understand the importance of communicating and engaging with people around the world, according to Globo Diplo. The site adds that Discovery held respect for cultural context and local voices at the heart of its business and creative strategies, which is an essential approach in public diplomacy.

Under Secretary McHale contributed to forging a strategic partnership between Discovery and BBC in 1998, enabling high quality content programming and global distribution. However, Mark Lynch, a professor at GWU, does not perceive this as a landmark achievement.

Lynch maintains, “The position of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs should go to someone with experience in and a vision for public diplomacy, and who will be in a position to effectively integrate public diplomacy concerns into the policy-making process.”

According to Lynch, McHale does not possess any experience in public diplomacy, while she rather has the attribute of being able “to sell a message” on her resume. McHale’s experience is reminiscent of the former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Charlotte Beers, “whose tenure lasted only 17 months (October 2001-March 2003), and focused on ‘branding’ America through television advertising which showed happy Muslim-Americans, and was generally considered to be an utter failure.”

However, the new head of Public Diplomacy at the State Department said in an interview with David Gollust for Voice of America (VOA) that she is confident that America’s image abroad can be fully rebuilt after the damages caused by the years of the Bush Administration.

McHale argues that the recent election's outcome and Obama’s image overall have already largely contributed to bringing back a positive image of America abroad. “[President Obama], in his inauguration, made an important point of talking about reaching out his hand and I think there are lots of people who want to reach out to us now," she noted.

McHale, who for 20 years headed the cable TV syndicate Discovery Communications, said she developed her interest in foreign and particularly African affairs as the daughter of a US diplomat in apartheid-era South Africa. She further emphasized the role of new media and social media such as the internet, reaching out to foreign populations, especially the youth. “There's no other way of doing that unless we employ new media in appropriate circumstances,” she insists.

She promised a top-to-bottom review of US public diplomacy efforts but said she enters the post with no preconceived notions about structural changes, though there are abundant study-commission reform recommendations.

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