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Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes announced her resignation this week. Her tenure brought funds and attention to public diplomacy, but America’s image abroad is worse than ever. Price Floyd, who served as director of media affairs under Hughes, grades her performance.
The case against former FBI agent Lin DeVecchio, alleged co-conspirator in four mafia murders, ended abruptly last week after Village Voice reporter Tom Robbins showed up at court with exculpatory evidence. Robbins dug up two ten-year-old cassette tapes that impeached the credibility of the prosecution's star witness, and then wrestled with whether to come forward.
For the Dalai Lama, emptiness is not just a Buddhist concept—it’s an enormously successful P.R. strategy. Attacks from China don’t hurt his image either. In the wake of his Congressional Gold Medal, we look at the Dalai Lama’s enduring rock-star status in the American media.
This week a dozen-and-a-half news organizations formed the Chauncey Bailey Project – to continue the work of the Bay Area journalist killed in August. Editorial coordinator Robert Rosenthal says reporters will not be cowed into silence.
Last weekend in Ukraine, Vicktor Yanukovich's party won the most votes in parliamentary elections, which may be hard to imagine for those who remember him as a villain during the Orange Revolution of 2004. Clifford Levy of the New York Times says Yanukovich got a new image with the help of American political consultant Paul Manafort.
British media have been obsessed with the story of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann since her disappearance last May. And when her parents became suspects in the case, it seemed there was no other news in England. Guardian media editor Matt Wells says he's never before seen this much press coverage of a single story.
Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, was killed last month allegedly for investigating Your Black Muslim Bakery, an establishment long connected to violent crime. East Bay Express editor Steven Buel says the murder has brought much needed attention to a dangerous organization that his paper covered in 2002.
When Tony Blair became Britain’s prime minister a decade ago, his nickname was “Bambi,” a reference to his doe-eyed optimism. Now tarnished by the “low skullduggery” of politics, Blair left office on Wednesday deeply unpopular among his people. Longtime Blair spokesman Alastair Campbell points a finger at the press.
