Propaganda, Public Diplomacy & Idea Invasion The Story Of Usia's Worldnet [Paperback]

Established in 1953 as the nations public relations agency, the United States Information Agency was sanctioned for nation branding, creating and modulating Americas reputation, and spreading the good news about America to overseas audiences. Always operating under an expanding mosaic of terminologies and in the center of semantic debates, USIA benefitted from public diplomacys tremendous growth during President Reagans historic mission of fighting communism. While many agencies experienced budgetary cuts, the USIA budget increased more than 80 percent, and some of those funds were used to finance Worldnet. Created by USIA Director Charles Z. Wick and staff, Worldnet was the Agencys attempt to use satellite television as an instrument of public diplomacy. Filled with compelling stories from insiders, this book lifts the veil on and provides a historically grounded introduction to Worldnet, the jewel of the crown of the Reagan administrations enchantment with aggressive political propaganda techniques.