America Abroad Media

America Abroad Media (AAM) is an organization based in Washington DC that produces international affairs programs for public radio and television. According to its website, its mission is "to harness the power of media to inform America and the world about the critical international issues of our time."

AAM was founded by Aaron Lobel. It "was conceived and developed in 2001, and the organization was granted official 501c3 status in July 2002. The organization is overseen by a bipartisan advisory board that consists of former senior government officials, scholars, and members of Congress, and the organization is supervised by a Board of Directors in Washington, DC." [1]

Work

• It produces a public radio program, America Abroad, "that aims to deepen and inform public discussion about international affairs in the United States and abroad." It features hosts Ray Suarez and Deborah Amos and has been co-hosted by Marvin Kalb, Garrick Utley, Steve Roberts, and Margaret Warner. "Each program will examine the past, present, and future of a single issue in international affairs through historical audio, interviews with senior policymakers and foreign leaders, and dialogue between students and professionals in the United States and abroad." [2] It airs on 225 NPR stations in the U.S. and in 145 countries on NPR Worldwide. It airs in 9 of the top 10 U.S. markets.

• Youth SPAN is an "educational project that uses videoconferencing technology to connect students in the United States with their counterparts abroad for a series of classroom discussions on international affairs." [3]

• AAM Television is shown in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Turkey.

• AAM Journalism Fellowship brings broadcast journalists from the Muslim world to Washington, DC to attend events on U.S. foreign policy. They receive training in the latest broadcast techniques and then produce media products for broadcast in their home countries.

Funding

• Ford Foundation
• The Hewlett Foundation
• Carnegie Corporation
• Starr Foundation
• The Draper Richards Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Ploughshares Fund
• Stuart Family Foundation
• Sophia and William Casey Foundation
• Henry Luce Foundation
• As well as private sources

Former:

• Arthur B. Schultz Foundation
• German Marshall Fund
• Korea Society

Board of Directors (2010

• Elena Lytkina Botelho, Principal, ghSMART
• Tim Crawford, Assistant Professor, Boston College
• Andrew Erdmann, Consultant, McKinsey & Company
• Kevin Fletcher
• Aaron Lobel, Founder, President and Chairman, America Abroad Media
• Sarah Papineau Marshall
• Mia McNiece (did not change by Feb 2010)

Former:

• Anna Aslund
• Rick Lewis
• Sister Janice Ryan

Advisory Board

Accessed February 2010:

• David Abshire, Peter Ackerman, Hushang Ansary, Michael Armacost, Richard L. Armitage, Norman R. Augustine, Charlene Barshefsky, Samuel Berger, Richard Burt, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Henry Catto, Michael Chertoff, William H. Draper, Ken Duberstein, Bruce Gelb, David Gergen, C. Boyden Gray, Marc Grossman, Chuck Hagel, Lee Hamilton, Carla Hills, Stanley Hoffmann, Martin Indyk, John Kerry, Zalmay Khalilzad, Anthony Lake, Aaron Lobel, Richard Lugar, Thomas F McLarty III, Ron Nessen, Thomas Pickering, Margot Pritzker, Felix Rohatyn, Stephen P. Rosen, Brent Scowcroft, Daniel Senor, Strobe Talbott, Margaret Tutwiler, Vin Weber, John C. Whitehead, James Q. Wilson, James Wolfensohn, R. James Woolsey, Philip Zelikow

Advisory Board (2008)

• David Abshire, President and CEO of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, served as a Special Counselor to former President Ronald Reagan
• Michael Armacost
• Samuel Berger, served as National Security Advisor to former President Bill Clinton from 1997-2000
• Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies, served as National Security Adviser to former President Jimmy Carter from 1977-81
• Henry Catto, Chairman, The Atlantic Council of the United States
• Ken Duberstein, Chairman and CEO of The Duberstein Group, served as U.S. President Ronald Reagan's White House Chief of Staff from 1988 to 1989
• William H. Draper, III, former President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
• David Gergen, served in the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1995, director of communications for President Reagan
• Marc Grossman, Vice President, The Cohen Group, former U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs under George Walker Bush
• Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations
• Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator (R-NE)
• Lee H. Hamilton, Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Carla Anderson Hills (Carla Hills), served as the United States Trade Representative from 1989-93, acting as President Bush's principal advisor on international trade policy
• Stanley Hoffmann
• Samuel P. Huntington
• Martin Indyk, Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel
• Anthony Lake, served as President Clinton's National Security Adviser from 1992-1996
• Aaron Lobel, Founder, President and Chairman, America Abroad Media
• Richard G. Lugar, U.S. Senator (R-IN)
• Ernest May, has been a consultant at various times to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, the National Intelligence Council, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and committees of the Congress
• Ron Nessen, Journalist-in-Residence, The Brookings Institution
• Thomas Pickering
• Susan Rice
• Felix Rohatyn
• Stephen Peter Rosen
• Dennis Ross, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Brent Scowcroft, President of The Scowcroft Group, National Security Advisor to President George Bush Sr. from 1989-93
• James Steinberg
• Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution
• Margaret Tutwiler, Head of Global Communications & Public Affairs (PR) at Merrill Lynch, Ambassador to Morocco from July 2001 to August 2003
• John Whitehead, Former Co-Chairman, Goldman Sachs
• R. James Woolsey, Jr. Vice President at Booz Allen & Hamilton, former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
• Philip Zelikow

Former:

• Francis Bator
• Robert M. Gates
• John Forbes Kerry
• Jeane Kirkpatrick
• Robert Strange McNamara

Contact details

1020 19th Street, NW
Suite 650
Washington DC 20036
Phone: 202-457-8050
Fax: 202-457-8056
Email: mail AT americaabroadmedia.org
Web: http://www.americaabroadmedia.org

Resources

Related SourceWatch resources

• Post-war Iraq
• President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
• Lucas Welch - former Director of Communications

External articles

• Emmanuel Evita, "Firms and non-profits try diplomacy," UPI (Business for Diplomatic Action), November 19, 2004.