Karen Hughes: Still after "hearts and minds"! "Monitors" television stations!

[Bluebear]

So, Karen Hughes has set up a bank of televisions, which "we" monitor. And she can "walk down there" and see if there is a protest going on somewhere. Question: HOW MUCH ARE WE PAYING HER FOR THIS SHIT AGAIN?


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Since George W. Bush was a candidate for Texas governor, fellow Texan Karen Hughes has worn many hats in her work for him. Now, the Southern Methodist University graduate faces perhaps her largest task: Helping the rest of the world get a more accurate picture of America.

As undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, she spends each day trying to get the message out about America. She sat down last week with Dallas Morning News editorial columnist William McKenzie in her State Department office to talk about the challenges of painting an accurate picture. Here's an excerpt of their conversation:

The vehicles of communication are so much greater today. In the Arab world alone, there are some 180 satellite TV stations. Ten to 15 years ago, there were none. And most of them have an anti-Israel, anti-American, anti-West philosophy.

We monitor them. When I arrived here, I didn't know what was driving the news around the world. I did a survey and found out that 15 different agencies were monitoring news in some way. Most were sending around columns or editorials. But what's happening in the world is happening in real-time, on television. Most get their news from television. So we set up a rapid-response system at the State Department. We monitor what's going on around the world. We can watch in real time what's being said on Al-Jazeera. We have translators, and I can walk down there and see if there's, say, a massive protest in Beirut. I can hear what's being said.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/editorial/16229208.htm

[Kagemusha]

1. Frankly monitoring is better than not monitoring

The question is if she's learning anything from it.

I have my doubts.

[Bluebear]

3. Yes, but we monitor on cable TV too.

Granted she has a few more satellite channels, but it sounds like she is not even doing the monitoring. I am just wondering what Madame Undersecretary's salary is.

[Kagemusha]

5. Come, come. Do you really believe she understands Arabic?

Or Farsi, perhaps? Besides, it's useful information for people besides just her. Open-source intelligence, as they call it.

It's just that if no one's well, doing anything with the information, THEN it's a waste.

[rodeodance]

6. says she has translators (our troops in Irag only have a few)

[monmouth]

2. SMU??? Are they not trying to keep stupid's library out of there??? Karen has a full plate, huh??

[louis-t]

4. She is the secretly appointed head of the Propaganda Ministry.

Joe Goebbels would be so proud.

[Mist]

7. Must really piss off Bushco that they don't control the world's media. "Accurate picture

of America" = the bilge that passes for news on American corpo-media. Damnit--why won't those furriners just play ball?

[datadiva]

8. When do we get to stop paying her? n/t