Where Judith McHale sits vis-a-vis US international broadcasting.

"One official who is likely to have a significant impact on Alhurra is Judith McHale, the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. McHale's predecessors in the Bush administration struggled to defend or resolve systemic problems at Alhurra. But McHale's background is in television programming and international broadcasting. She was the president and CEO of Discovery Communications and instrumental in developing Discovery Channel, which now has 100 channels telecast in more than 170 countries and 35 languages to more than 1 billion subscribers. McHale is close to Secretary Clinton and one administration official said she is now reviewing memos written by transition team members on Alhurra and the BBG." Dafna Linzer, ProPublica, 29 May 2009.
     McHale has one vote, on behalf of the Secretary of State, on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Beyond that, she has no executive authority over Alhurra or any other element of US international broadcasting. If US public diplomacy did control US international broadcasting, then US international broadcasting would lack the independence necessary to achieve the credibility required to attract an audience. And given McHale's experience, she might have been a better fit as BBG chairperson than under secretary for public diplomacy.
     McHale's testimony at her 13 May Senate confirmation hearing does not mention international broadcasting. But was she thinking of international broadcasting when she said "our public diplomacy must be run strategically – not just in unconnected, unintegrated programs"? Posted: 02 Jun 2009 Permalink Print