That Israeli Information Machine in Action: Overlooking the "Bloody Conflict"

There has been an exceptional amount of media fluff about the wondrous Israel information/propaganda/hasbara effort in the Gaza conflict. Yet, for all the acknowledged prowess of Tel Aviv on televisions-talkboards-YouTube-Twitter, here's a rule-of-thumb: the dead, cold reality of civilian deaths, sooner or later, will overtake your use flashy, hot new media.

Here's an example:

David Saranga, the Israeli Consul for Media and Public Affairs in New York, was quick on the Twitter this morning about an article in The Guardian of London on Israel's efforts: "Winning the Media War". Rachel Shabi notes that the coordinated hasbara effort has "got world media repeating the Israeli government's core messages practically verbatim".

So what's the problem? Well, Saranga might have done well to check the secondary headline on The Guardian piece before hitting his "Send" button:

Twitter, YouTube, blogs – Israel has proved a master of networking. Shame it's being used to promote a bloody conflict

Ali Fisher on State Department Twitter-Diplomacy

Our colleague Ali Fisher has emerged as one of the top analysts of public diplomacy, including its pursuit through new technologies and media. Following our own engagement with the State Department's efforts to spread its message via Twitter, he has offered a critique, "To Tweet or Not to Tweet, What is the Question?" on his website Wandren PD:

If [Twitter] is just another means to deliver a message (even if it has more of a human voice than other methods), another way to ask for comment just to answer back with the same rebuttals that will also appear in other media, to take a centralised view and drive traffic to other sites or stories produced by the same organisation, it is a missed opportunity. But if that’s all you want if for, then it will do the job just fine.

Once More: That State Department Twitter-Diplomacy

Time to upset my good friends working on State Department Twitter-diplomacy: DipNote has just Twittered that I can "watch what the U.S. Department of State is saying about the Middle East today". So I click the link, and it's the Daily Press Briefing...<em>from three days ago</em>.

Tomorrow: DipNote brings you President Eisenhower's statement on the Suez Crisis.

Follow-Up: That State Department Twitter-Diplomacy....Gives the Game Away?

After our "full and frank" discussion earlier this week over the US State Department's emergence on Twitter, American officials have made their first foray back into the cyber-woods.

Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy is asking, "Did You Know [that] State Dept has a Senior Advisor on Muslim Engagement?" while State's bloggers are putting out the line, "Cease-Fire in Gaza Must Be Durable, Sustainable."



The twist comes when you read that blog, which is a re-print of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech to the UN Security Council last night without any further exposition or explanation. And, following up on our interpretation that Rice's statement is much more than a call for a "durable, sustainable cease-fire" --- "US Seeks Regime Change in Gaza" --- the killer phrase is still there:

....a principled resolution of the political challenges in Gaza that reestablishes ultimately the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate control....

There is a comment box available for those wishing to take up this small matter.

US State Department Twitter-Diplomacy- Colleen Graffy Responds

Yesterday Scott posted on US State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy's use of Twitter, noting that while the Gaza situation escalated, her latest tweet was about a visit to the Apple store.

A short while ago Ms Graffy stopped by Enduring America to offer a response:

Successful communications begins with listening, followed by engaging and developing relationships and only then communicating. Those who use Twitter know that it blends the personal with the professional. I am meeting interesting people and connecting with them in the Twitter-style on the everyday life experiences we all share. In addition, I communicate what America is doing on public diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs where I work.

You can read her comments in full here.