USUN ROME HITS THE GROUND SPRINTING: A LOOK BACK ON OUR

UNCLAS ROME 003107

SIPDIS


FROM U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES
STATE FOR U/S P NBURNS, U/S R KAREN HUGHES, A/S PA SMCCORMACK
STATE FOR IO A/S KSILVERBERG, DAS PDIBBLE, DAS RMILLER, DAS
MLAGON, IO/EDA, IO/PPC, PRM A/S ADEWEY
USDA/FAS FOR U/S JPENN, JBUTLER, MCHAMBLISS AND LREICH
USAID FOR DAA/DCHA WGARVELINK, DCHA/OFDA, DCHA/FFP, AID/LPA
AF/E, AF/PDPA, R, IIP, PA
NSC FOR EABRAMS, JMELINE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KPAO OPRC EAGR AORC PHUM EAID PREF XA FAO WFP
SUBJECT: USUN ROME HITS THE GROUND SPRINTING: A LOOK BACK ON OUR
FIRST YEAR WITH PUBLIC DIPLOMACY SHOP

REF:(A) Rome 2049 (B) Rome 2194 (C) Rome 4673


1. Summary. Confronted by a world media environment that takes
daily shots at U.S. foreign policy, USUN Rome pulled no punches
during its first year with a Public Diplomacy office. The
Ambassador's trips to Africa brought journalists face-to-face
with U.S. assistance in action. Combined with creative outreach
to Rome-based international media, USUN Rome put American
generosity and our commitment to millions of people in Africa in
headlines around the world.


2. With the UN General Assembly in session, critics have been
spouting the usual rhetoric about U.S. policy towards Africa. In
the face of this, USUN Rome has found ways to bring the message
of U.S. generosity to the headlines. During our first year with a
PD shop, media outreach has been coupled with efforts to
institutionalize tried-and-true State Department Public Diplomacy
programs, including Speakers and International Visitors. Given
our modest office size and budget, we found ways to partner with
other missions on common themes. Looking ahead, we hope to
convince Public Affairs colleagues worldwide that U.S.
humanitarian generosity is a PD theme that we all share, and seek
out ways to link information that passes through Rome with
audiences around the world. End Summary.

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POSITIVE MESSAGES TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE
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3. The U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome launched a full-
time public diplomacy office in July 2004 with the arrival of our
first PD officer. With a message that could put us on the public
diplomacy offensive as we highlighted America's great
humanitarian commitment, the first thrust of our PD effort was to
reach out to international press, targeting Muslim media as often
as possible. From the beginning, we found journalists open and
interested in our themes. We took advantage of the Ambassador's
fact-finding trips to some of the world's worst humanitarian
crisis areas to invite press to accompany him and our PD officer.
The result was worldwide coverage of the Unites States' efforts
to help these disadvantaged people. A few examples:

ZIMBABWE "FOOD KNOWS NO POLITICS"
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4. In August 2005, Ambassador Tony Hall led a visit to Zimbabwe
to observe the plight of the country's chronically food insecure
and the fallout from the GOZ's Operation Murambatsvina or "Throw
Out Trash." Overwhelming interest among local and wire
journalists produced more than 120 headlines worldwide that
spotlighted U.S. concerns about the growing food emergency and
the need for immediate action by the GOZ. New York Times, The
Independent, Guardian and BBC led with U.S. concerns about the
food security situation. Several highlighted the USG's desire to
not play politics with food, focusing on Ambassador Hall's
announcement of a $51.8 million injection of funds through World
Food Program to Southern Africa. Newswire photos taken of a U.S.
food aid distribution continue to be used to illustrate articles
on Zimbabwe.

"HUNGER BANQUET" STIRS UP NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
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5. Thanksgiving Eve 2004 Ambassador Hall hosted a reception that
caught global attention. The event was for guests associated with
an FAO Council meeting. To underline the plight of the hungry and
poor, USUN Rome took the format used by Oxfam America to host a
"hunger banquet." Guests chose color-coded cards that separated
them into three categories of wealth. The largest group 60
percent stayed outside beneath a tent eating rice. A second
group of about 25 percent ate rice and beans, and just a handful
was served a full meal, complete with wine. After about 30
minutes, Ambassador Hall (who was with the group eating rice)
gathered everyone inside to talk about the event and its impetus
and then opened a traditional buffet.


6. International media picked up an Agence France-Presse wire
story written by a reporter in attendance. The piece ran on page
three in the International Herald Tribune and the front page of
London's Daily Telegraph, and was repeated from India to
Australia. The Ambassador spoke with several local and national
BBC radio stations. The event portrayed the U.S. widely as
innovative and compassionate and showed the media potential for
creatively packaged "good news" stories.

SUDAN AND LIBYA
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7. Press accompanying the Ambassador's November 2004 visit to
Sudan and Libya projected the U.S. image as a leader working to
help resolve one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The
Washington Post, Cox News Service, VOA, The Economist, Sunday
Times of London and Knight-Ridder joined the delegation. Arabic
news services, such as Bahrain-based Al-Ayam, conveyed Hall's
message about the worsening shortage of aid and his call to
continue pressure on all sides of the conflict to cease violence
and improve security. London-based Middle East Online reports on
the North Darfur state of emergency, and uses Hall's comments
about seeing burned out and abandoned villages.


8. An additional group of journalists joined the Ambassador's
travel to the town of Al Kufrah in the Libyan Desert where they
witnessed the long caravan of trucks winding through the sands of
the Libyan desert with 6,540 metric tons of United States food
aid to refugee camps in Chad. Heralding a landmark agreement with
the Libyan government for the safe passage of humanitarian aid
through Libya, the event produced positive international
headlines on U.S. humanitarian leadership. The Panafrican News
Agency voiced the story carried widely: "For the first time, the
UN World Food Programme is sending United States food assistance
through Libya, along a humanitarian corridor across the Sahara
desert, to reach nearly 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern
Chad."

OUTREACH GRABS HEADLINES ON AID PACKAGE
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9. USUN Rome put a local spin on an important aid announcement
that garnered significant coverage. In June 2005, Ambassador Hall
announced the $674 million in assistance to Africa at the annual
session of the Executive Board of the United Nations World Food
Program (WFP). In front of scores of UN delegates, WFP Executive
Director praised the United States for its gift. Associated Press
picked up a Mission-generated press release, headlining with,
"U.S. famine aid package to be given immediately; package wins
U.N. praise." More than 6 million listeners heard Ambassador Hall
on BBC Radio Four's flagship "Today" program; another 1.3 million
watched "Uno Mattina" morning news program. In the windup to
Gleneagles, USUN Rome helped to focus the media spotlight on
concrete U.S. efforts to tackle problems in Africa.

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CULTURAL PROGRAMS RAMPED UP
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10. With only four International Visitor (IV) slots being shared
among the six missions in the International Organizations Bureau,
USUN Rome was able to program two candidates for FY 2005. The
Mission targeted key and senior officials at Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) who are important players in helping the
organization improve emergency response mechanisms and program
and budget issues. They forged new relationships with U.S.
officials and other contacts and reported new insights to their
work at FAO. For FY 2006, USUN Rome is again sending two
participants: a bright up-and-comer from the Colombian Embassy
and another from WFP who plays a critical role in the
organization's management review process.


11. Before a Public Diplomacy section was formed, potential
contacts in the Rome-based media, NGO community and academia were
unaware of Mission themes, i.e. the U.S. as a leader in the fight
against hunger. That has greatly changed thanks to outreach
campaigns among diverse groups, including journalists, academics

and the NGO community. We have engaged new contacts not only on
the message of U.S. generosity, but also on issues relating to
biotechnology, UN reform, U.S. goals in the G8, and WTO and food
aid, to name a few.

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EMBASSY PARTNERSHIPS AMPLIFY MESSAGE
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12. Given our one-officer PD shop, the Mission sought out
partnerships with embassies on common themes to propel our
messages even further. We shared a speaker being hosted by the
Milan Consulate to program an important biotech session at the
FAO. While the media spotlight on Sudan was still hot, we
partnered with USUN Geneva and Embassy Cairo to gather Muslim and
international media for an on-the-ground report from Ambassador
Hall, following his trip. A second DVC joined Ambassadors John
Danforth and Hall with reporters in New York, thus helping to
broaden stories on Darfur written by New York-based journalists
who were more likely to focus on the shortcomings of the Security
Council than the successes of WFP and America's role in promoting
humanitarian assistance.

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AN EXCITING FIRST YEAR
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13. During our first year with a Public Diplomacy Officer, USUN
Rome broke new ground on its effort to project an image of the
United States as a global leader in fighting poverty and hunger.
Recognizing the value of a strong public diplomacy campaign,
Ambassador Hall fully integrated PD efforts into his work and
insured that all agencies at the Mission followed suit. Thanks to
generous resources from the IO Bureau, USUN Rome was able to
demonstrate the power of a "good news" story, even without FSNs
to help with program management. The Mission looks forward to
topping its first-year success story.

HALL


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2005ROME03107 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED