The Foreign Service Journal, March 2019

22 MARCH 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL level of nation-state ambassador. When E.U. diplomats asked the State Depart- ment for clarification, they were told that the department forgot to notify them of the change in their diplomatic status. The European Union is now listed on the department’s website as a delegation. The State Department did not com- ment on the issue, citing the government shutdown as the reason for its silence. The American Approach to Development U SAID Administrator Mark Green highlighted the difference between the “American” and the “authoritarian” approach to development in remarks at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s Tribute Dinner on Dec. 5 in Washington, D.C. The annual event brings together members of the foreign policy and international development community to honor outstanding champions of Ameri- can global leadership. This year USGLC honored the work of Administrator Green, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Representative Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who received the group’s Award for Lifetime Achievement for his “unwavering bipartisan commitment to global development as an essential com- ponent of U.S. foreign policy and national security.” In discussing his view of development work, Administrator Green—a former four-term congressman fromWisconsin and U.S. ambassador to Tanzania (2007- 2009)—explained: “There are two very different compet- ing models of development and relief in the world. One approach, the authoritar- ian approach, is really predatory lending dressed up as assistance. It lures borrow- ers with promises of easy money, but then straddles themwith unsustainable debt. It ties up strategic assets. It ties up resources for years to come. Some have called it debt diplomacy. Others have called it loan-to- own assistance. “Our approach, the American approach, on the other hand, moves countries from being recipients to partners to fellow donors. It’s based upon the notion of a hand-up not a handout, and it helps posi- tion countries to grasp their own future. “The authoritarian approach treats assistance as it does all else, a state secret, so they have ribbon cuttings that are very public for those buildings and roads, but all that glitters is not gold. Ask about the fine print, or meeting engineering codes, or impact on habitat, and they’ll simply turn the other way. Of the 45 nations assessed by the AID Transparency Index, China finishes dead last. “Our approach is built on transpar- ency. The MillenniumChallenge Cor- poration releases its score cards. USAID releases our self-reliance road maps, and nearly all U.S. government assistance can be seen on foreignassistance.gov. ” Green described his experiences teaching in a small African village as I n this era of so-called “fake news,” when political polarization has led Ameri- cans to go to their own “side” for news that may or may not be objective or true, it’s not always easy to know which sources to trust for real, unbiased news. That’s where this Media Bias Chart comes in. Ad Fontes media founder Vanessa Otero, a patent attorney in Denver, created the chart in 2018. While she does share her basic methodology, the algorithm she uses is proprietary. The chart is an interpretation, not science. But it’s still instructive. The chart displays all major and many minor news outlets on a grid, arrang- ing them from“most extreme left” to “most extreme right” along one axis and from“original fact reporting” to “inaccurate/fabricated info” on the other. The most neutral sites, which all offer “fair interpretations of the news,” are floating in a yellow box in the center of the chart. When you see a new site in your social media feed or elsewhere, you can quickly check in here to find out what the site’s slant might be before you click on the link or forward it to colleagues. SITE OF THE MONTH – A MEDIA BIAS CHART: WWW.ADFONTESMEDIA.COM