Talk:United States Information Agency

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Yeesh! This reads as if it were written by the Ministry of Propaganda—which, of course, is what the USIA was, Edward R. Murrow or no Edward R. Murrow.

"Public diplomacy..." what gobbledegook. "To understand, inform and influence foreign publics in promotion of the national interest." Drop the word "understand" and you have a definition of the word "propaganda."

OK, I added a first paragraph which acknowledge's the relative truthfulness of the USIA's material while making sure that the word "propaganda" is not missing from the article. Dpbsmith 04:18, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)

P. S. The dictionary defines propaganda as "The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause."

P. P. S. I can't say I had actually encountered the euphemism "public diplomacy" before. I ran across this page because I mentioned the USIA in a note in an article on MIT and was checking the link. But further investigation confirms my impressions. According to an article at [1]

As U.S.-Soviet tensions eased, America's anti-propaganda attitude quickly resurfaced, and a new term was used to describe the USIA's mission: "public diplomacy." This term was first coined in the mid-1960s by Dean Edmund A. Gullion of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Explaining the origin of the term, Gullion wrote (1967) that:

"Even beyond the organ of the Government set up to handle information about the United States and to explain our policies, what is important today is the interaction of groups, peoples, and cultures beyond national borders, influencing the way groups and peoples in other countries think about foreign affairs, react to our policies, and affect the policies of their respective governments.

"To connote this activity, we at the Fletcher School tried to find a name. I would have liked to call it 'propaganda.' It seemed like the nearest thing in the pure interpretation of the word to what we were doing. But 'propaganda' has always a pejorative connotation in this country. To describe the whole range of communications, information, and propaganda, we hit upon 'public diplomacy'."

So, indeed, "public diplomacy" was coined as a euphemism for "propaganda." Dpbsmith 04:27, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Clinton as Fulbrighter

I think that the menion of Bill Clinton as a Fulbright recipient is incorrect. Clinton received a Fulbright Prize from the Fulbright alumni association in 2005, but this is not the same as receiving a Fulbright scholarship from USIA. I'm going to delte this line--which, besides, strikes me as oddly defnesive and non-NPOV. -Hickoryhillster 15:42, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Information Agency Time Plus - Information Referral Service

I removed Information Agency Time Plus - Information Referral Service, is the trusted source for business information, international market research, service from across the world. as I do not see the relevance, and it is copied verbatim from their website, and it is not neutral POV, and, it really makes no statement... whoever added this, was there some reason? I don't get what Information Agency Time Plus has to do with the US Ministry of Propaganda. User:Pedant 22:55, 4 January 2007 (UTC)