Issue #2

Good, Bad - and Does it Matter?

An American Professor Evaluates Ukraine's Image in the U.S.A.

By John Guiniven
Associate Professor James Madison University

When it listed "10 countries in deep economic trouble" last April, US News & World Report magazine placed Ukraine third. Only Mexico and Pakistan ranked worse. The fact that the magazine itself is rumored to be bankrupt is little consolation to those concerned with Ukraine's image in the United States.

Americans form opinions of other nations based on three broad areas: 1) U. S. media coverage of those countries; 2) Entertainment from those countries; and 3) Personal contact with people from those countries.

Ukraine has a narrow focus for its image-building in America. Required filings under America's Foreign Agents Registration Act show that Ukraine's government has employed two U. S. consulting firms, which, for the most part, arrange meetings between Ukrainian and U. S. leaders. The major Ukrainian political parties also have hired consultants in Washington, D.C., but their interests appear limited to obtaining strategic political advice for the 2010 elections.

Jeff Conley, founding partner of Stratacomm, a Washington PR firm, says, "Political leaders affect a nation's image - but they're transitory. If a nation is strategically important, you need broad-based public support, a sea of good will. Yet, countries hire firms who push the images of leaders instead of the nations and react to negative media coverage instead of moving the dialogue."

Beyond highlighting economic woes, coverage of Ukraine concentrates on its leaders - and the clashes between them, which does nothing for Ukraine's image. Oxford Analytica this year said, "(President Viktor) Yushchenko's public relations efforts have often been defeated by his own ineffective rhetoric and apparent focus on undermining (Prime Minister Yulia) Tymoshenko."

Which is too bad, because Ukraine has a captivating narrative that would have great appeal to Americans - from the Ukrainians who helped settle Jamestown, America's first colony, through the genocide of the Holodomor Famine, to the world-inspiring Orange Revolution of 2004.

Laryssa Yukhymenko-Davis, a graduate student in piano performance at the University of Nebraska, says, "I wish Americans, including my husband, would be more intelligent about Ukraine, its rich history and its strategic role in Eastern Europe."

Educating Americans on international matters is a daunting task. But if Ukraine wants a positive image across America, here are a few suggestions:

Media. Launch an advertising-public relations campaign that ties the values of Ukrainians with those of Americans, utilizing traditional and social media. China, Vietnam and Colombia ran successful campaigns in the past.

Entertainment. The Ukrainian film industry is a well-kept secret in America. The Ukrainian Film Club of Columbia University showed Serhiy Bukovsky's documentary, The Living, a moving tribute to a heroic nation that survived the Holodomor Famine; and the films of Victoria Melnykova are roundly praised but are screened mostly by Ukrainian Studies programs. Efforts promoting Ukrainian artists should at least equal those promoting tourism.

Personal contact. International exchange programs need emphasis. At present, fewer than 2,500 Ukrainian students are enrolled in U. S. schools and only 1,000 Americans are studying in Ukraine. These are paltry numbers. Dr. Bohdan Oryshkevich, founder of New York-based Ukraine Scholarships, says the Ukrainian government "does not show much interest in our students here." Ukraine needs to recognize these programs as strategically important.

There is a network of support for telling Ukraine's story - 961,000 Americans of Ukrainian ancestry; a dozen leading U. S. universities with Ukrainian Studies programs; a Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard; and Ukrainian-American associations dotting the landscape. At present, there is little coordination among them, but a long-term, people-centered image campaign could prompt cooperation - and the campaign could work.

After all, the peoples of the two countries start with one thing in common: They rate among the top in citizenries who distrust their own governments.