Dr. R.S. Zaharna is a professor in the School of Communication at American University whose research focuses on Arab cultural communication patterns, intercultural and international public communication, and public diplomacy.
R.S. Zaharna

Dr. R.S. Zaharna is a professor in the School of Communication at American University whose research focuses on Arab cultural communication patterns, intercultural and international public communication, and public diplomacy.
For the United States to focus only on improving its image in the Arab and Muslim world is to see only half of the picture.
For the United States to focus only on improving its image in the Arab and Muslim world is to see only half of the picture.
In their responses to Nancy Snow’s provocative thesis, R.S. Zaharna and John Robert Kelley focus on America’s credibility deficit and the limits of civic diplomacy.
Since September 11, 2001, American public diplomacy has been on a communication treadmill trying to find the “right” message that will win the hearts and minds of skeptical foreign publics.
With the end of major military action in Iraq, U.S. public diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim world has entered a new, more challenging phase.
With the nomination of Karen Hughes as the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, the United States has the potential to embark on a new and more effective phase in its communication with the international community, particularly with the Arab and Islamic world.
According to a poll released early last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ( http://people-press.org/ ), America’s image has become “dangerously” negative throughout the Arab and Muslim world.
Score another public diplomacy point for Osama bin Laden in his war with the United States to win the hearts and minds of the Arab and Muslim world.
Until America finds its own voice in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it is unlikely that America’s voice will be heard or heeded in the Arab world.
It might be time for Israel to confess to its true intentions in the Palestinian territories.
To reach its public diplomacy goals, the U.S. will need to master the tools of intercultural and public communication.
For all intents and purposes, Arafat has been effectively isolated as a credible party to the peace talks.