Al-Jazeera's website (in Arabic) has a big feature exploring American public diplomacy: "America's attempts to improve its image.. to where?" It's fascinating.
The welcome frame explains that the United States has recently become aware of its negative image among Arabs and Muslims, and is beginning strenuous efforts to improve it. It describes the appointment of Karen Hughes and her visit. The welcome is framed by scrolling images on either side. Here are some examples - of both negative images (Abu Ghraib) and postive ones (American soldiers handing out food):
There are then a series of options for exploring further, each a set of cascading slides with accompanying captions.
The first category, "The phenomenon", begins with an image of 9/11, then shows angry crowds and cites opinion polls, then shows a striking image of a bombed out Pizza Hut, then an empty McDonalds, and some other images.
It then turns to "the reasons." This is the longest of the categories, and the heart of the presentation. Number one: "the total bias towards Israel", including two slides, one of a pathetic looking Palestinian boy and the other of Bush and Sharon hanging out together. Number two: "the war on Iraq under false pretenses." Then "leadership of the international campaign against Afghanistan under the pretense of fighting terrorism, which resulted in the death of thousands of innocent Afghans." Then "using the slogan of spreading democracy" to pursue its own objectives. Then Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Then a picture of starving Sudanese (I think), under the caption "starving and impoverishing Muslims" through the use of economic sanctions (in the past, this would have been a reference to the Iraqi sanctions, but that obviously doesn't fly anymore). Then "American control over Arab resources and wealth (oil)." This is not the most unbiased presentation I've ever seen. Indeed, what's interesting is that neither this section nor the following two on American public diplomacy includes any of the positive images which can be found in the scrolling sidebars in the welcome frame.
The next set of slides is "American efforts." It shows Condi Rice (in a rather flattering picture) "opening the door to dialogue with Arab and Muslim people," , then a picture with the banners of al-Hurra and Radio Sawa. Finally, it gives a section to Karen Hughes - one picture, with a long bio. Both of these categories are short and perfunctory - especially in comparison to the extended treatment given "the causes" category.
Anyway, click on the link and you can see the images yourself - it's easy to navigate even if you don't speak Arabic.
UPDATE: an accompanying on-line poll asks "do you think Washington is able to improve its image in the Arab and Islamic world?" 86% say no. The response rate is really low, though (only 600 votes so far, with four days to go - a typical survey I cite here gets 20-30,000 votes) so it's hard to take much away from it.
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