When the US decided to take diplomacy a step further by appointing an Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy three years ago, it sought to engage in world conversation, that is, to find out people’s perception of America.

The new media was particularly useful in achieving this goal, deputy assistant secretary for public diplomacy Coleen P. Graffy told The Malta Independent on Sunday during a visit to Malta earlier this week.

Ms Graffy referred to the art of communicating policies, values and culture to a world audience, and the fact that communication has been one of America’s big challenges.

Ms Graffy oversees public diplomacy and public affairs programmes for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. She said a media hub was built in Brussels in a bid to reach out to the 12,000-or-so journalists in the EU.

Similar hubs in Dubai and London are particularly focused on Arabic media, Ms Graffy said, and more hubs are expected to be built in other places to reach out to as many people as possible.

She said the US had to find a way of communicating to people, rather than to governments alone.

“After the Cold War, there was a feeling of open communication. There seemed to be the idea that everyone could get information about the US, but then you realise that the 24/7 media environment was not enough in communicating America’s message to the people.

“And with people’s insatiable desire for news, they inevitably receive the wrong information sometimes. Even though it may be accidental, we felt it was better for us to be out there, listening to what the people are saying and clarifying any misconceptions.”

Ms Graffy explains that public diplomacy has many branches, two of which are cultural diplomacy and green diplomacy. The latter is a relatively new concept. The US wants to show that despite people’s perceptions, it has and is doing a lot in favour of the environment.

She said that because the Bush administration did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol – an international treaty intended to bring countries together to reduce global warming and to cope with the effects of temperature increases – many people thought that the US did not care about the environment.

Ms Graffy says, however, that despite what people thought, the US refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it believes that it is fundamentally flawed, and is not the correct vehicle to produce real environmental solutions.

America’s message was not communicated in the best possible manner, she explains, saying that the Kyoto Protocol does not provide the long-term solution to the problem of global warming.

“The government wants to reach out to people on something they care about. In the case of green diplomacy, it’s the environment. We are partnering with people and governments to help create a better environment. Maltese students I met were intrigued by how much the US is doing for the environment.”

Asked why the US presidential election has increased interest in US policies worldwide, Ms Graffy said everyone is particularly fascinated by this particular presidential election.

“The election is certainly a great tool for public diplomacy. We may have the first female vice-president or the first African American president, and we had the first woman seeking to become a presidential candidate.

“The youth vote has also captured everyone’s imagination, so the use of the new media is also very intriguing and has played an enormous role in this presidential election.”