Emily Metzgar Research Collection

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/25245

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    The Growth of Regionalism: Implications for the International System
    (Journal of Public and International Affairs, 1997) Metzgar, Emily T.
    It is often suggested that the development of regionalism and regional identities throughout the international system is detrimental to trends toward globalization. This article argues that the growth of regionalism is not at the expense of global­ization. Rather, it is a trend which can be exploited in the development and implementation of policy toward regions that traditionally have been less developed, less organized, and less influential in the international system. First defining and then examining the existence of regionalism, this article pro­vides theoretical justification for the growth of regionalism today, focusing specifically on three regions: Southern Africa, the southern cone of South America, and Southeast Asia. Examining the growth of regionalism in those three areas for a period of 35 years, the degree of organization in each region over time is measured. Interpretation of the data presented here results in discussion of the necessity of regional cohesion in increasing a region’s influence at the global level. The article concludes with speculation about the different ways in which the international system or a representative nation such as the United States might be expected to react to higher levels of regional organization. Policy implications are discussed throughout.
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    Asserting “Truth” in Political Debates: A Study of Partisan Twitter Networks
    (International Symposium on Online Journalism, 2012-04) Metzgar, Emily T.; Ibold, Hans P.
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    Promoting Japan: One JET at a Time
    (CPD Perspectives, 2012-03) Metzgar, Emily T.
    There is broad recognition that the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program is an important project undertaken by the Government of Japan. Such assertions are based on raw numbers of participants, diplomatic and academic intuition, and collected anecdotes. There is, however, no publicly available research considering the JET Program as a public diplomacy endeavor evaluating what effects former participants attribute to the JET Program. This study presents a theory- and data-driven foundation on which to stake claims about JET as a public diplomacy program. Introducing original survey data collected by the author in 2011, this study evaluates the responses of more than 500 American JET Program alumni and begins shedding light on the value of JET as a long-term, government-sponsored, public diplomacy program.
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    Considering the ‘Illogical Patchwork’: The Broadcasting Board of Governors & U.S. International Broadcasting
    (CPD Perspectives, 2013-02) Metzgar, Emily T.
    At its December 2012 board meeting, members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) announced that they needed more time to consider a plan that would create a single executive responsible for day-to-day operations of the organization responsible for overseeing U.S. government-supported international broadcasting efforts. Operating with a budget of more than $700 million and producing content in more than 50 languages, the Broadcasting Board of Governors qualifies as one of the world’s largest international news organizations. Using discussions about the need for reorganization of the BBG’s management structure as impetus, this article discusses the role of the Broadcasting Board of Governors in American public diplomacy efforts and considers its accompanying responsibilities as a large, media management organization. Noting a dearth of academic and policy-oriented research focused on the BBG, this article seeks to provide a foundation for future discussion of issues surrounding its leadership, its performance and its future.
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    Seventy Years of the Smith-Mundt Act and U.S. International Broadcasting: Back to the Future?
    (CPD Perspectives, 2018-04) Metzgar, Emily T.
    The United States has engaged in peacetime international broadcasting and related activities since passage of the Smith- Mundt Act in 1948.2 Formally known as the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act, Smith-Mundt is the statutory foundation for the U.S. government’s transparent production and dissemination of news and information intended for foreign audiences. The political rationale for American engagement in these activities, the legislative structure authorizing them and the environment—both international and domestic—within which these activities unfold have evolved in the seven decades since Congress first deemed “telling America’s story to the world” a worthwhile endeavor. This paper for the CPD Perspectives series discusses the legislative actions, the rhetoric and the context for U.S. international broadcasting (USIB) at key junctures since the end of World War II. The pattern that emerges is one of both continuity and disconnect, from a consistently stated desire to promote democracy and freedom of information to variable views about how to manage the broadcasters and navigate a changing international system. The analysis presented here has particular relevance for the contemporary political environment where concerns about the efficacy of U.S. government-sponsored broadcasting and other messaging activities abroad have driven legislative change while raising new worries about the potential for government messaging tools to be turned on American audiences at home. Discussion begins with the deliberations that led to passage of Smith-Mundt then moves to an evaluation of amendments intended to curtail domestic access to USIB content, continues with a discussion of post-Cold War legislation that dramatically altered the bureaucratic structure responsible for overseeing international broadcasting, and finally arrives at recent actions undertaken to impose increased accountability on the broadcasters and to relax constraints on domestic access to their content. In addressing these issues, this report connects past to present, offering a framework for current discussions about U.S. international broadcasting and related information diplomacy efforts in the contemporary global communication ecosystem. This report does not purport to be a thorough retelling of the history of the Smith-Mundt Act’s passage in early 1948, nor of amendments or other legislation that came later. Rather, the work presented here seeks to offer a modest overview of the legislation that has governed U.S. international broadcasting, as well as public discussion about it, since the end of World War II.
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    PD in Review: The Rhetoric of Soft Power
    (PD in Review, 2012-03-07) Metzgar, Emily T
    In her review of Craig Hayden's The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts, CPD Summer Institute Alum Emily Metzgar notes that the book is "a well-researched discussion of soft power and its application in the name of public diplomacy." The book is one of Hayden's contributions to the academic study of public diplomacy.
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    U.S. "Flyover Country" Sends Election Signal
    (News Decoder, 2016-05-19) Metzgar, Emily T.
    Exit polls from West Virginia’s presidential primary in May 2016 revealed a surprise: Many voters who had opted for Democrat Bernie Sanders said that, should he fail to win his party’s nomination, they would likely support Republican Donald Trump in November’s U.S. election. That sentiment left pundits along the country’s East and West coasts scratching their heads. But it makes perfect sense in middle America, a region derisively called “flyover country” by those who pass over it while traveling between the East and West coasts.
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    Media & Trump: Flipping the Orwell Narrative
    (News Decoder, 2017-02-15) Metzgar, Emily T.
    The opening pages of George Orwell’s novel “1984” acquaint the reader with the Two Minutes Hate, a daily ritual profoundly effective at unleashing anger, derision and obscenities from the audience. The object of their deep-seated and primal animosity is a figure identified as Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People. Day after dreary day in the fictional Oceania, Goldstein is trotted out as a symbol of all that is wrong with those who fail to believe rightly. And every day, enmity is unleashed toward him anew. But, as the novel’s narrator observes, although bounteous vitriol is spewed daily, Goldstein’s “influence never seemed to grow less. Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be deceived by him.” As the narrator reflects: “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in.” For the American press, it is de rigueur to offer comparisons between Orwell’s “1984” and the American political environment of 2017.
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    I’m Not Saying It’s Aliens
    (News Decoder, 2017-12-28) Metzgar, Emily T.
    Metzgar explores a recent change in conspiracy theory journalism tone. Only the unhinged used to discuss these topics seriously, however, they are now finding their way into prominent media outlets.
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    On Missed Opportunities
    (The CPD Blog, 2010-07-12) Metzgar, Emily T.
    In late June, The Washington Post had an article highlighting efforts by the American Embassy in Islamabad to correct the record when inaccuracies about the United States appear in the Pakistani press. Then, last Friday, the weekly public radio show On the Media had an interview with the lead spokesman for the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Larry Schwartz to discuss the effort reported in The Washington Post’s earlier article. Both media items offer valuable insight into the challenges official Americans face overseas as they work to present policy accurately while simultaneously acknowledging the range of opinions often held by Americans on those same issues. Both media items also shed light on the frustrations U.S. officials feel as falsehoods, misrepresentations and malicious interpretations of actual facts about the United States are presented to often already suspicious foreign populations. For American diplomats serving abroad, addressing these challenges is part of the job description. But the recent appearance of those two items in national media also highlights a few facts about the importance of context, or lack thereof, in reporting of international issues in American media. And this in turn points to the need for expanding our understanding of the practice of public diplomacy – both abroad and at home.
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    This is What Public Diplomacy Looks Like
    (The CPD Blog, 2011-04-08) Metzgar, Emily T.
    The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program has been around since 1987. This program, the largest component of which places native English speakers in Japan’s junior and senior high schools for year-long tours of duty as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs), has thousands of alumni from around the world – more than 20,000 from the United States alone. Run as a jointly administered program by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications (MIC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT) and the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), JET has faced tough talk at home in recent years as Japan’s political leadership seeks ways to control government spending. The value of a program bringing so many young people to Japan for one, two, three and even four-year stays has been questioned.
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    Journalism, Mass Communication & Public Diplomacy
    (The CPD Blog, 2012-08-21) Metzgar, Emily T.
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    Fixing the Strategic Dysfunction
    (The CPD Blog, 2013-06-26) Metzgar, Emily T.
    The House Foreign Affairs Committee came out swinging in November of 2016 in its hearing titled “Broadcasting Board of Governors: An Agency ‘Defunct.’” Chairman Ed Royce laid the groundwork in his introductory remarks, offering an overview of the BBG’s legislative origins and the proud history of U.S. government broadcasters that helped the West win the Cold War. The point – much like the hearing’s title – was not subtle, but it was important: The salad days of U.S. international broadcasting (USIB) are long past and the current administrative structure, under the purview of the BBG, does not work.
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    PD Academic Research: Journalism & Mass Communication Scholars Consider Opportunities
    (The CPD Blog, 2013-08-13) Metzgar, Emily T.
    In November 2016, for the first time ever, there was a panel dedicated to discussion of public diplomacy at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Held in Washington, DC the conference, and this panel in particular, offered an opportunity for scholars to talk about the emergence of public diplomacy as a subject of study in the discipline. The session was well attended and the audience was populated with both scholars and practitioners interested in advancing discussion about public diplomacy in both theoretical and applied contexts.The panel consisted of six scholars, each of whom offered a different perspective for the discussion.
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    Public Diplomacy as Corrective Lens?
    (The CPD Blog, 2014-05-23) Metzgar, Emily T.
    A recent book from Martha Bayles, a lecturer in humanities at Boston College, tackles the question ofhow American entertainment industry products confound official U.S. government efforts to representthe nation to populations abroad. In early 2014 she stated, “I’m not the only one to see our ubiquitouspopular culture as the elephant in the public diplomacy living room." Now, in discussion focused on the pervasive presence of American popular culture overseas, Bayles’ book Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America’s Image Abroad, provides new context for discussion surrounding the question “whither American public diplomacy?”
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    A Cautionary Tale of Soft Power Promotion
    (The CPD Blog, 2014-07-22) Metzgar, Emily T.
    China’s increasing involvement in Africa has captured considerable attention from policymakers and academics. Formalized in a 2006 policy statement, “China’s Africa Policy,” Beijing’s interest in the region translates into Chinese government and government-affiliated institutions investing billions of dollars in large-scale construction projects across the continent. In complementary fashion, China’s state-sponsored media has initiated programming created for audiences throughout the region. And increasing numbers of Chinese citizens unaffiliated with government efforts are flocking to Africa in pursuit of their own interests. A story that involves both a rising superpower and the world’s most underdeveloped region is a story worth telling and journalist Howard French has tackled this rich subject in his new book, China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.
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    Promoting "Journalism with Purpose"
    (The CPD Blog, 2014-08-07) Metzgar, Emily T.
    Almost lost among daily reports about conflict in the Middle East, a crash investigation in Ukraine, an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, an influx of young people crossing the border with Mexico, and systemic neglect of American veterans has been the House of Representatives’ introduction -- and now passage -- of legislation designed to reform how the United States tells its story to the world. On July 28, 2014, the House passed on a voice vote the United States International Communications Reform Act, (HR 4490) bipartisan legislation intended to “enhance the missions, objectives and effectiveness” of U.S. international broadcasting.
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    Fixing America’s Voice to Enhance Foreign Policy
    (The Conversation, 2015-04-02) Metzgar, Emily T.
    One of the US federal government’s most notoriously troubled agencies, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), suffered a serious public relations setback in early March 2015 when its newly hired CEO, Andrew Lack, quit after only 42 days in the position. Lack, famous for taking on tough jobs, once declared “I’m usually offered jobs where there is something big and broken.” He is now headed back to his previous employer, NBC, where he is tasked with damage control following the Brian Williams fiasco. Meanwhile, “big and broken” remains a decidedly apt description of the BBG. And that is a big problem for the United States and its foreign policy.
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    No Joke: This is How Public Diplomacy Works
    (The CPD Blog, 2015-04-09) Metzgar, Emily T.
    On April Fools’ Day 2015, Buzzfeed writer Matt Stopera posted a story about his recent trip to China. It’s one of the nuttiest narratives I’ve read in a long time and it has the added benefit of being true. It also happens to provide terrific evidence of how successful China’s public diplomacy could be. It involves direct interactions between people across cultures, facilitated by tools of digital communication and unfettered by government interference. The result is closer ties, better mutual understanding, genuine affection, and just plain warm feelings all around. Read: Public diplomacy success.
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    How Community Service Can Help Educate Journalism Students
    (PBS MediaShift, 2015-04-20) Metzgar, Emily
    Since 2010, I’ve been teaching a graduate class in Indiana University’s Journalism program, requiring that students complete 20 hours of service work in the community as part of their final grade. The reaction from students has been powerful. One student noted that the experience “made me examine my privilege in a way that was really uncomfortable for me.” Responses like this lead me to believe that service-learning should play a role in all journalism education programs.