Aparate egency with the directer reporting dreatly to the Secretary and serving as principal adviser to the Souratory and the Provident on Arms Central and Disarmament. ANE 1975 1/ This section is reproduced from a study of USIA and related U.S. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. CRS-58 Appendix Information and Cultural Programs of Other Countries An examination of the organizational structure and budgets of other countries' external information and cultural programs provides some basis for comparison with the organization and emphases of the U.S. program. Several caveats must be observed in attempting such comparisons, however. First, differences in philosophy should be recognized as such; the French concept of the "civilizing mission" and the British respect for the autonomy of the civil service are both unique factors for which no adequate comparison exists in other countries. Secondly, comparisons of budget and of expenditures as a percent of Gross National Product are not necessarily reliable indicators of the dissemination abroad of information, literature, etc. from any country--they do not take into account the contribution of the private sector. Comparisons of the much larger Soviet program to that of the United States, for instance, frequently fail to consider the vast scope of non-governmental media distribution from the United States as compared to the absence of such material from the Soviet Union. Budget comparisons are further complicated by the fact that no common definition of information and cultural programs exists; what the U.S. budget system classifies as foreign assistance for humanitarian relief may be included in another country's international information/cultural program accounting. Thirdly, subtle patterns, such as the USIA/CU relationships, are not easily understood by outside observers, and the overviews presented here must necessarily be recognized as simplifications of complex organizational patterns. CRS-59 Most of the information presented in the following sections is summarized from a series of reports on external information and cultural relations programs of other countries prepared by the USIA Office of Research and Assessment and released in 1973 and 1974. a. United Kingdom The United Kingdom in 1973 spent approximately $215 million, or 0.23 percent of the government budget, on government- supported information and cultural programs, with funds allocated in roughly A major goal of Britain's current information and cultural programs is to promote British exports and the proportion of the external information budget spent on export promotion has increased significantly in recent years. Organizationally, the British system of government funding and guidance to autonomous chartered groups is frequently regarded as a model for other countries. Five entities are principal participants in information and cultural programs: the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which operates the British Information Service (BIS) abroad; the BBC External Services; the British Council; the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Central Office of Information (COI). |