Over the past few years there have been a number of ongoing debates about what is Strategic Communications. In fact, some have even confused the term Public Diplomacy with Strategic Communications.
I think that the US Supreme Court Case Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), wherein Justice Potter Stewart in attempting to explain what is obscene said “"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced... [b]ut I know it when I see it ..." (see: https://bit.ly/39UEYyC) is a pretty good definition of strategic communication.
For those of you interested in a more formal definition of the two, one of my graduate students defined strategic communication as “the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission” (Source: “Defining Strategic Communication.” International Journal of Strategic Communication 1, no. 1 (2007): 3–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/15531180701285244)
She went on to define public diplomacy as “the transparent means by which a sovereign country communicated with publics in other countries aimed at informing and influencing audiences overseas for the purposes of promoting the national interest and advancing of its foreign policy goals” (“What Is PD?: USC Center on Public Diplomacy.” Accessed November 2, 2020. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/page/what-is-pd.)
In practical terms, strategic communication means taking a whole of government information approach to employing alternative information channels to help accomplish the goals of your government.
Case in point – the Chinese government would very much like to disassociate the People’s Republic of China with the pandemic.
On December 6, 2020, the NY Times On Line Version published an article: China Peddles Falsehoods to Obscure Origin of Covid Pandemic (see: https://nyti.ms/3mZPI26, which is also a photo source). The December 7th print version title was “Propaganda Machine Muddies Virus’s Origin” which I think is much better.
The Chinese government is fostering alternative theories about the origin of the virus to include the notion that it originated from packaged frozen food sent to China from elsewhere. Another tactic was to quote a German scientist out of context giving the appearance that the scientist (Alexander Kekule, director for the Institute for Biosecurity Research in Halle, Germany) believed the origin was Italy.
Dr. Kekule has tried to refute the Chinese efforts, but alas it was two lates. According to the Times “Thousands of people were sharing state media articles about his research, leaving comments such as, “A billion people in China thank you!” and “There are not many scientists who dare tell the truth. A simple phrase appeared in red writing above Dr. Kekulé’s face in a meme that circulated online: “Not Wuhan.””
In going on the offensive, Xi Jingping has argued that China’s success in containing the virus is clear proof of the superiority of their form of government.
We hope that all y’all out there are taking good care of yourselves and maintaining your sanity. For my reading I’ve added the PSYOP Leader’s Planning Guide from Thuls. If anyone has had any experience with that guide – can you please let me know.
If we don’t have another post – enjoy the Holidays!
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