Media Diplomacy: The Foreign Office in the Mass Communications Age

204 Pages·1986·3.927 MB·English

by  Yoel Cohen

MEDIA DIPLOMACY
MEDIA
DIPLOMACY
The Foreign Office in the
Mass Communications Age
Yoel Cohen
FRANK CASS
Firstpublished1986in GreatBritain by
FRANKCASS AND COMPANYLIMITED
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,
Oxon,OX144RN
andin the UnitedStatesofAmericaby
FRANKCASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
270MadisonAve,
NewYorkNY10016
TransferredtoDigitalPrinting2005
Copyright © 1986YoelCohen
BritishLibraryCataloguingin PublicationData
Cohen, Yoel
Mediadiplomacy: theForeignOfficein
themasscommunicationsage.
1. Mass media-GreatBritain
2. Newsagencies-GreatBritain
3.Great Britain-Foreignrelations
- 1945-
I. Title
327.41 DA589.8
ISBN0-7146-3269-4
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Cohen, Yoel, 1953
Mediadiplomacy.
Bibliography: p.
Includesindex.
1.Great Britain-Foreignrelations-1945-
2. Great Britain. ForeignandCommonwealthOffice.
3. Diplomacy. 4. Massmedia-Politicalaspects
GreatBritain. I. Title.
JX1543.C64 1986 327.41 86-1296
ISBN0-7146-3269-4
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyform, orbyany
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior permission ofFrank Cass and
CompanyLimited.
TypesetbyWilliamsGraphics, Abergele, NorthWales
Coverillustration
GoonhillyRadioStation,bycourtesyofTelecomTechnology
Showcase,London
PressconferencebySirAnthonyParsons,PresidentoftheUN
SecurityCouncil, 5November 1980,reproducedbykind
permissionoftheUnitedNations. PhotobyY.Nagata.
CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Preface ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Origins 11
3. Information 21
4. Image of the World 36
5. Public Opinion 52
6. International Negotiation 68
7. Moulding Opinion Abroad 83
8. Moulding Opinion at Home 99
CASESTUDIES
9. Reporting a Hijacking 115
10. Lebanon: Images and Interest Groups 127
11. Media Diplomacy in the Falklands War 135
12. The Revolutions in Diplomacy and Communications 156
Notes 170
Bibliography 184
Index 191
TO MY PARENTS
FOREWORD
Yoel Cohen has done a valuable job in amassing a whole wealth of
evidenceto illustratetheevolvingrelationship betweendiplomats and
the media. It is a diligently researched dossier of the way events in
recent British diplomatic history have been presented to the media
andcovered bythe press and television. Iam sadthat he was not able
to be more forthright in his conclusions about what he calls 'Media
Diplomacy'. I believe that it is partly because of the secretive and
suspicious nature of the British bureaucracy in its relations with the
media, an attitude that politicians in power do little to disperse, that
Britain is seen somehow to be a nation without elan.
YoelCohendetailsthe Britishgovernment'snervousnewsmanage
mentoftheFalklandsWar: howmuchmorerespectwouldthecountry
have won from the outside world if it had opened its doors to the
media with the open confidence of a mature democracy fighting a
jaded dictatorship?
Butthisbookisanimportantcontributiontoalittlecoveredcorner
of British history, and it will provoke lively discussion.
Peter Snow
PREFACE
This book is a study of the relationship of news media and modern
diplomacy. Thegrowthofmasscommunicationsandtheinterestofthe
citizens of democratic societies in international affairs have certain
implicationsfordiplomacy. ByexaminingBritishdiplomacy,thisstudy
attemptstopinpointthoseareaswherethemediaimpingeontheforeign
policyprocesseitherintermsofhavinganinfluenceonpublicopinion,
by providing new information to policy makers, or in terms ofbeing
used by officials as channels to other governments and to the public
at home and abroad.
Inadditiontopublishedsources, thestudyisbasedon250interviews
inBritainandabroadwithgovernmentministers, parliamentarians,civil
servants, editors, journalists, and interest group leaders.,For reasons
ofconfidentialitythe identity ofmany interviewees quoted cannot be
given. Elite interviews have to be used in qualitative rather than
quantitative terms, and extracts from interviews have been used to
illustrateanalyticalpoints beingmaderatherthanas conclusiveproof
oftheir validity. A combination of interviews and published sources
allows a picture of the relationship of the media and diplomacy to
emerge. Interviewsalonedonotalwaysshowallthefactors leadingup
to a particular decision, and published sources alone do not provide
answers to some questions including perceptions of officials and
journalistsaboutoneanother. Accesstokeyindividualsandinstitutions
remainsaproblemfor thesocialscientistinvestigatingtheBritishCivil
Service, andthetimehasstilltocomewhenheorsheisabletoobserve
theworkingsofagovernmentagencysuchastheForeignandCommon
wealth Office from the inside for a fixed period oftime. In contrast,
in examining the connections between Washington reporters and US
governmentofficials, oneacademicwasgrantedtheopportunitytobe
aninsideobserveratfive federalagencies, includingtheWhiteHouse,
theDepartmentofState,andtheDepartmentofDefence,andhadaccess
to staffmeetings and internal documents. Moving between reporters
and officials, he was able to observe the same event from the two
perspectives.l
The author is grateful to the many people who agreed to be inter
viewed, andwhogaveoftheirtimetosharetheirthoughtsandopinions.
I wish to thank Professor Jeremy Tunstall for his advice and helpful
x Media Diplomacy
comments.Thepatienceofmywife,SaraRivka,andmydaughterand
son, Haviva and Hezki, eased the task ofcompletingthe manuscript.
Withouttheencouragementandsupportofmyparents, AaronS. and
Florida M. Cohen ofLondon, the study would not have been under
taken.
Jerusalem Yoel Cohen
November 1985
NOTE
1. Stephen Hess, The Government/Press Connection, Washington DC, The Brookings
Institution, 1985; StephenHess, 'TheGoldenTriangle: ThePressattheWhiteHouse,
StateandDefence',inTheBrookingsReview,TheBrookingsInstitution,Summer1983.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
At weekends the machinery ofBritish foreign policy comes to a halt.
ButonSunday, 23 February 1969, a hum ofactivityfilled theForeign
andCommonwealthOffice (FCO). Therewas no crisisinthesenseof
war. But a diplomatic crisis was brewing, one that graphically illus
trates the effect which mass media can have on modern diplomacy.
NormallyonaSundayafternoonasingledutyofficerinNewsDepart
ment is available to answer journalists' inquiries. But on this Sunday
the chief spokesman, the head of News Department, was telling the
assembledjournaliststhatPresidentdeGaulleofFrancehadtraduced
his European partners, and was seeking British support to liquidate
NATO in return for British admission to the European Economic
Community.Tobackhimup, theunder-secretarieswhoconstitutethe
office'sseniorechelonwereinattendance. Nearlyeveryknownforeign
affairs journalist was there, as well as some who were unheard of.
What became known as the Soames affair began in 1968 with the
political appointment by the foreign secretary, George Brown, of
Christopher Soames to the post of ambassador in Paris. He had the
taskofpersuadingdeGaulletofavourBritishmembershipoftheEEC.
De Gaulle was critical of NATO and the EEC in general, and had
proposedthe creation ofan enlarged European economic association
withasmallinnercouncilcomposedofFrance,Britain,WestGermany
andItaly.AnatmosphereofmutualsuspicionexistedbetweenLondon
and Paris. It was, therefore, not surprising that de Gaulle in making
the proposal - which he said should have come from Britain rather
than France - was less trying to fulfil British aspirations and more
exploiting the opportunity to drive a wedge between Britain and her
allies in Europe, with Britain being perceived as trying to destroy the
rightsandlibertiesofsmallerstatesliketheNetherlandsandBelgium.
Although the de Gaulle-Soames conversation was confidential,
HaroldWilson, theprimeminister, sawthe needto informEuropean
governments about the conversation lest once it became known, as it
inevitably would, Britain would become suspect in European eyes.