August 30th, 2007 by Shir

Our Voices Together held an event this morning on “Foreign Perceptions of the U.S. & American Understanding of Foreign Cultures,” in which four young foreign journalists spoke on various issues related to the media, cross-cultural understanding and perception, and violence.

Amr Emam (Egypt), stressed the U.S. is perceived negatively for its policies, not its values. He spoke about the deficiency in American media in covering events in the Middle East, in particular the atrocities the U.S. is complicit or involved in.

Sabrina Valle (Brazil) expanded on these issues, saying that global issues were absent from or distorted in American media. Miscommunication occurs, she said, because the rest of the world thinks Americans get the same news they do.

Mugumo Munene (Kenya) spoke about the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi to highlight a great disappointment for Kenyans in receiving American assistance, and the unequal focus on American deaths in the tragedy.

Shamim Ashraf (Bangladesh) stressed American foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly towards Israel and in Iraq, are at the heart of a deep mistrust of America.

The panelists agreed that personal connections and improved education in foreign issues would greatly support better global relations, and expressed hope for much improvement.

Posted in Foreign Aid, US media |