Karen Hughes was apponted by the president of the U.S , George W. Bush to give a better image of the USA and to stop the expansion of anti-americanism.
In her speech she evokes the fact, that America should dialog with the world in order to marginalize terrorists. In her opinion, America should help to arize the voices of the allies of the US. She refers to the Cold War, during which the US lead an ideologic fight against the Soviet Union. In fact, during the Cold War period, the US used the radio of Voice of America to spread the capitalistic ideas, and to block the Soviet expansion.
Hughes also evokes the (supposed?) success of the US intervention in the Iraki soil. She mentionned that Iraki feel a lot better than under Sadam Hussein's "reign". Nowadays, US diplomacy also uses media to spread its ideas. But the target now is not Europe anymore but the Arab world. Or " The Great Middle East" as President Bush likes to call it. We can see that the radio station Radio Sawa was launched by the US government. This radio, based in Washington, targets the Arab youth. The aim of this strategy is to change the minds of the adults of tomorrow. This strategy may also have another reason. In the 16th May terrorists attacks we have seen that many of the terrorists were previously disorientated teens. America's aim by creating Radio Sawa is to bring the lost ones into the right path.
Another illustration of the US' will to change Arabic people's mind is the creation of the TV channel Al Hurra which means in Arabic " The Free One". The target of this channel is not the adolescents, but the adults. The aim of this channel is to change the way that Arab people see the news. In fact, Al Hurra gives the news in the American point of view.
We can see that Hughes' aim is clearly to change Arabs' point of view about the US. To complete this task, America use soft power by influencing people's mind through sounds and images.
