Killing the Messenger? (St. Dept. site surveying US policy coverage dead)

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: World Opinion Roundup
by Jefferson Morley
Killing the Messenger?


Has the United States government decided that Americans don't care about what the world thinks of their country? You might get that impression from the State Department's Web site.

Last week the department stopped posting surveys of how the international press is covering significant developments in U.S. foreign policy. Based on reporting from U.S. embassies around the world, the surveys quoted newspaper and broadcast reports in just about every language.

It wasn't exactly scintillating reading, and the surveys didn't generate much buzz beyond qualifying for the the Librarians' Internet Index of "Web sites you can trust." But the information, posted regularly since 1998, constituted a comprehensive documentary record of the impact of U.S. foreign policy on global public opinion.

In recent months, the surveys had covered media reaction to President Bush's appearance at the Latin American summit, the Iraqi constitutional referendum, and the six party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. In past years, the surveys detailed world reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks, the Abu Ghraib photographs, the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, and the effort to provide aid to victims of the South Asia tsunami.

No more. The Web address of the Office of Media Reaction --
usinfo.state.gov/products/medreac.htm -- now yields a "page not found" error. The archive of past surveys is also unavailable. The page states, "The USINFO website is undergoing significant design changes." There's a link to the surveys from the main State Department press page, but it's dead....


http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/worldopinionroundup/

[Benhurst]

1. "The USINFO website is undergoing significant design changes."

Be patient, folks. It takes time to rewrite history.

[Spazito]

2. LOL, no surprise there

No news is good news, especially when the news is bad. The bush admin is treating it's citizens like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them shit, lol.

[fshrink]

3. Mushrooms... funny!

In addition, it's pretty clear what the rest of the world (except Poland, who goes to the highest bidder regardless) thinks of us. For the rest, there are plenty of info manufacturing outfits and a host of obedient loudspeakers.

[nickgutierrez]

4. *yawn*

The rest of the world hates the * administration? What a huge surprise.

"He who controls the past, controls the future; and he who controls the present, controls the past." - George Orwell, 1984