As Ted Lipien points correctly, RFE/RL “faces…problems, such as American management’s discrimination against foreign-born journalists”. But, being quite correct, it is still an understatement.

Recently, a Yerevan daily AZG (People) published in Armenian a well-researched article “Cases of Karapetian and Pelivan as Morality Check for Obama Administration. Radio Free Europe to Face European Court of Human Rights”. (AZG webpage in English:http://www.azg.am/EN/2009072901 ; in Russian: http://www.azg.am/RU/2009072903 )

An excerpt from a subsection “Court Cases Against RFE/RL as Failure in Public Diplomacy”:

“Lawsuits against RFE/RL brought in Czech courts by Anna Karapetian and Snjezana Pelivan received an unprecedented media echo – in Russian, English, Czech, Armenian, Serbo-Croatian. The list of negative media publications is virtually endless. Here are some headlines, to mention but a few: “Czech Sovereignty Ends at RFE/RL”, “Free Europe With Its Own Laws in Colonial Czech Republic?”, “Radio Liberty Betrays its Ideals”, “Radio Free Europe – Guantanamo in Prague”, “Equality With Precondition. Practice of Free Europe Contradicts Its Ideals”, “From Human Rights Show to Human Rights Court”, “Public Disaster Instead of Public Diplomacy”, “Prague Spring of 2009 Leads to Strasbourg”, “U.S. Attorney General is Asked to Investigate Fraud at RFE/RL”, “Doomsday of Radio Liberty. From Double Standards to Double Morals?”, “New Administration Must Undo RFE/RL Anti-Diplomacy Abroad”, “BBG, RFE/RL: Bring Public Diplomats Instead of Public Bureaucrats”, “Don’t Feed Kremlin’s Public Diplomacy With U.S. Public Hypocrisy”, “A Sense of Betrayal”, etc.

The most devious anti-American mind would not be able to design such an international media campaign devastating to RFE/RL and, by natural extension, to American image and trustworthiness abroad, as the American RFE/RL managed to cause on its own.“

There is no question that the headlines quoted by Armenian newspaper represent a ready-made blueprint for Obama’s corrective public diplomacy agenda. There is a question, however, if such a hands-on agenda exists there at all – beyond pompous, if well-meant, pronouncements.