U.S. speaking with one voice

By: Joe Strupp U.S. speaking with one voice
New Department of State unit draws fears, critics


Seeking to spin its message effectively overseas, the Clinton administration is creating a new U.S. State Department unit that will release information from different federal government agencies to foreign news outlets through one, combined voice.
The new International Public Information division (IPI) is expected to coordinate the release of news from the State Department, the Pentagon, and other U.S. government agencies to overseas news organizations and residents, according to U.S. officials.
"What this is intended to do is organize the instruments of the federal government to be able to support the public diplomacy, military engagements, and economic initiatives that we have overseas," says David Leavy, a White House National Security Council spokesman.
But critics fear the organized effort could block information from government sources that should be made available to foreign news services.
"It has a little bit of authoritarianism; it sounds like suppressing information more than getting it out," says Bill Monroe, the retiring ombudsman for the Stars and Stripes newspaper and former editor of American Journalism Review. "The fewer sources you have, the more you are dependent on those sources. The more sources you have, the better the information."
Faisal Alzaid, five-year Washington bureau chief for the Kuwait News Agency, also expressed concern that the new approach could block information. "That would limit the flow of news," he says. "I don't think it is needed. Each department has its own sources now."
IPI will be part of the newly created Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy office, which also will oversee the United States Information Agency (USIA), according to USIA liaison Frances Sullinger.
USIA, in existence since 1953 as an independent agency advocating U.S. foreign policy abroad, will continue its efforts within the State Department, Sullinger says.
U.S. officials say the new IPI division, created through a presidential directive, will not replace the USIA, but will work in a similar capacity to provide a single U.S. government voice on issues related to foreign governments, she says.
"It will be a coordinating function for international public information messages to overseas governments and the public," Sullinger says. "It is a tool for international information."
Michael Gurevitch, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland and an Israeli native, says IPI could limit news distribution but adds that journalists often react too quickly to such fears.
"It's difficult to assess what it will mean yet," Gurevitch says. "I can understand, though, why it would be seen as
a threat."
IPI will begin formal meetings this fall, officials say. Those will likely involve representatives from the Pentagon, FBI, and CIA as well as the State, Commerce, and Treasury departments.
(Editor & Publisher WebSite:http:www.mediainfo.com) [Caption]
(copyright: Editor & Publisher August 14, 1999) [Caption]