By PHK
Or State does it again
Far be it from me to attempt to advise the State Department on ways to communicate with Americans. But personally, I think the department has a problem. Here is just one tiny, recent example of how – in my view- a very few American taxpayer dollars could have been more wisely invested.
I spent most of June and July writing an instructor’s manual for an American textbook publishing company. The manual accompanies the latest edition of a comparative politics textbook that I had previously used in my classes. I chose the book because the prose was readable, the format usable, the layout formatted to appeal to the non-specialist. Besides, the contents contained more of the countries I taught in the class than any other textbook on the market at the time.
What my students taught me was the importance of visuals to help keep their attention. As time went on, I began incorporating more photos, drawings and sayings into my lectures projecting them via transparencies. This gave the students – many of whom had never been outside the U.S. - a special flavor for countries and societies that the class was studying that semester. Why? These “add-ons” helped students visualize far-off places and peoples. This then made it easier for them to learn about the foundations and idiosyncrasies of other countries’ politics. I included, for example, photos of China’s Forbidden City, peasants in the countryside, and Tibetan monks debating as well as diagrams of the Chinese Communist Party’s structure and its interrelationship to the Chinese government. I also included pithy Mao and Deng political sayings – all on transparencies – because the classroom itself was not set up for power point.
I suggested to the publisher that since the manual would be produced on a CD that visuals be included so that that instructors could download them for in-class transparencies or power-point presentations. The publisher liked the idea, gave me the go-ahead, and I began to acquire photos and other images for that purpose.
Enter – and exit the State Department
The Department has a monthly magazine for employees and retirees. It’s called State Magazine. State Mag used to be a boring black and white affair that also included some useful information. Over the years it morphed into a less informative but more visually appealing product that featured photos of the overseas “post of the month” plus, of course, the inevitable comings and goings of its political masters.
Truth be told, State Mag always included a post of the month and tipped it’s hat to whomever happened to be in charge at the time – but the earlier photos were smaller and in black and white.
I contacted the magazine’s photo editor to see if the magazine might have a few photos of countries I had never visited but were included in the comparative politics text – or, if they could direct me to appropriate embassy employees at the posts with whom I could deal directly. The photo editor told me that the magazine did indeed have recent photos of Japan, Nigeria, and Mexico that could fill the major gaps in my project, but that he would have to check with his editor as to whether he could release any to me and would get back to me promptly. He did get back to me as promised. But his boss’s relayed answer was negative – an e-mailed no. The rationale: I was told that the photos in question had been taken by individuals assigned to the embassies in those countries and that these people might not like it if their photos were used elsewhere. Since I had also asked for contact information so that I could request permission myself, I found this response specious. My second e-mail to reiterate this offer remains unanswered.
Meanwhile, I found people who had indeed taken photos of Mexico, Japan, the US-Mexican border, and even Nigeria. I also received help from the photo archives of the Museums of New Mexico. Unlike the curmudgeons at State, these people were pleased to have their photos used for this educational project – with due credit, of course, to themselves as photographer. People went out of their way to make sure I had the photos in a timely fashion and in digital form. Several, but not all, are retired Foreign Service Officers or relatives of Foreign Service families. One is a high school senior who can – as a result - mention in his college applications that two of his photographs are appearing in a university-level instructor’s manual. Another is a high school teacher; yet another a Methodist minister.
I discovered that NATO and the EU both have pages and pages of photos for use for educational and media purposes – at the click of a mouse – with due credit, of course, to be given to NATO or the EU. And how many military films have you seen with credits to the Department of Defense public affairs office?
Somehow, however, the State Department doesn’t see it that way. If the photos in question were classified, I could understand the problem. But they’re not. Yet, as a consequence of State’s unwillingness to recognize an opportunity for positive publicity, neither the department nor the people in the field who took those pictures used in State Magazine will be recognized beyond the narrow State Department community that happens to glance at the magazine.
It’s not as if this project is going to make the publisher (or me) rich. The CD will be sent free of charge to instructors to help them teach the materials better.
Yet, I think that State Department myopia in this instance is just one example of another lost public relations opportunity to help educate American youth about the world beyond our borders and get some credit for it. Fortunately, other Americans saw the project differently. So when budget times roles around and there’s no one there to defend Foggy Bottom’s interests once again, its leaders shouldn’t be surprised when the money goes elsewhere. It’s no surprise to me that the Department continues to lack a domestic constituency – it has no interest in building one.