From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield. Coming this fall, the White House will have more control over efforts to shape America's image abroad.

The Bush administration announced this week the creation of a permanent office of global communications, expanded from the campaign to counter anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan during the fighting there. The move comes amid rumblings in the White House and Congress for a

complete overhaul of the ways America attempts to win over the hearts and minds of foreigners.

The Council on Foreign Relations released a well-timed report this week, suggesting several reforms in U.S. public diplomacy.

Joining us now is David Maury, co-chair of the task force responsible for that report.

David, welcome to on the media.

Thank you.

Good to be here.

I want to get to a number of your recommendations.

But first, tell me what you found out about how the citizens of other countries view the United States.

Some of the adjectives within his report are arrogant, self-indulgent, hypocritical, inattentive, unwilling, or unable to engage in cross-cultural dialogue.

You know, we have a real challenge.

There's an awful lot of mischaracterization of America out in the various

parts of the world. But across the board, America is perceived to not have empathy. And by the way,

it's not just in the Middle East. It's in other regions in the world. It's even represented by

misunderstandings between ourselves and our allies. All right, there's the context.

What grade would you give America's public diplomacy campaign to date?

It's not a good grade.

We began to disassemble public diplomacy throughout the post-Cold War period over the last 10 years,

and in effect defunded it.

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