Ugly American

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Evangelicals also take an interest in environmental issues, which are close to the hearts of people in countries like Germany. Yet so far, little public dialogue has taken place between American churches and their counterparts, whether in Muslim countries or in Europe. That’s too bad, as I believe that an open exchange of ideas between peoples of faith could do much to salvage America’s image in the world.

There are still other groups that could play a significant role in improving that image. Emissaries of the academic community did a good job reassuring Europeans that America was not synonymous with its leaders – until the reelection of Bush in 2004, that is, when this perception of a good and a bad side of America fizzled.

The crux in all of this is respect. You don’t have to love each other or agree with other people’s ideas or lifestyles, but you have to show some respect, which is based on knowledge. Going back and forth across the Atlantic, the prevalent observation I have made is how little we know about each other. Thus part of what makes Americans ugly is that they don’t want to know about the peoples beyond their borders.

According to my own estimate,  fewer than 500 U.S. journalists were posted around the world to cover international news for American media organizations. Not only does that number constitute less than a third of the number of foreign correspondents sent to cover just one country, the U.S. It is also shamefully little if you consider that journalists play a pivotal role in gathering information and transmitting it to the people back home. This is especially true for remote places ordinary people don’t usually get to see for themselves, like Asia or Africa.

Foreign correspondents are a citizenship’s eyes and ears in the world. They are different from diplomats in that they are more likely to tell things as they are, because ideally, they are not beholden to a government, but to their public. Their mission is to report, so that citizens can compare one account to the other and make sense of the world.

Had audiences in the U.S. been better informed about what the rest of the world was thinking, maybe U.S. foreign policy would have taken a different tack. More Americans would have known ahead of time that the war in Iraq was a risky proposition and that they would have to go at it almost alone.

Truth is, that the American public isn’t particularly well served with foreign intelligence these days. There simply isn’t enough international reporting by mainstream media to satisfy. Americans who want to learn through their own media about what is going on abroad have to rely on a few elite newspapers. There is not much diversity to be had, so it’s hard to compare points of view. In fact, most of the students I have talked to in Missoula, Montana, don’t even get their foreign news from American media – they get it from the website of the BBC.

I think there are a number of levers that can be used to shape the international image of a country like the U.S. Not much can be done about the forces of history, besides understanding them. One simply has to take into account that lasting undercurrent of anti-Americanism, which stems from the dominance of American cultural products and the relentless drive of the U.S. as a force of modernity.

The U.S. government plays a big role in shaping the image of America abroad, by way of the foreign policy it chooses to conduct. To set limits to American power, to adhere to them, and to let others take part in American decision-making, would help improve the image of the U.S. in the world. So would more dialogue between forces within civil society, between religious leaders and individuals, in order to build mutual respect for the different ways people choose to live around the world. Public diplomacy can play its role, in so far as it aims at genuine debate rather than at mere propaganda. Last but not least, Americans need to do everything they can to protect their constitution, which still earns them a lot of respect around the globe.

Taking all things into account, what seems to me to be the most efficient way to improve America’s image abroad is to expand Americans’ knowledge of the world that

surrounds them. It’s a win-win proposition, because that way not only do Americans show more respect to others, they are also bound to elect a wiser government, which, again, is going to earn them more respect in the world.

I think that most Americans are ready to know more. I find it telling that people here in Montana get their news from the BBC, a source that originates halfway around the world. Which raises the question whether an American BBC would be best placed to make over the ugly American. What I mean by that is  a media company that invests in sending American journalists around the world, to serve as the eyes and ears of a public tht actually owns that company.

To some extent, National Public Radio has taken up that challenge, with sixteen bureaus and offices around the world. Yet this This is far from the reach of BBC News, which entertains nearly fifty bureaus around the globe.

To make NPR a truly competitive and alternative source for international news, it would need funding similar to what the BBC enjoys. In fiscal year 2005, NPR was able to spend $112.4 million on programming. That’s not bad, but it’s a long way from the £240.6 million that were expended by the BBC World Service in the fiscal year

ending March 2005. It remains to be seen whether a truly powerful traditional media organization financed by fees and controlled by government appointees will ever become a reality in the U.S.

In the meantime, my hope is that the Internet will become the new frontier in the quest to bring the world to the U.S. and ultimately restore America’s international

 reputation. What I envision is a far-reaching, highly professional web publication that relies on a sustained network of foreign correspondents to report on international events as fast as the BBC does. This Internet news service should offer as much expertise as the BBC does by having foreign correspondents actually posted in another country for a while, instead of just parachuting them in when a crisis comes to its head.

To create that kind of Internet publication from scratch takes the idealism and drive of journalists and audiences possessed with a sense of urgency and the spirit and stamina to rise to the challenge. All it takes is some pioneers, and we foreigners still believe in our hearts that this is what Americans are really good at – pioneering. That’s where the beauty lies behind the ugly American’s mask.