Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Daw

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Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Dawn L. McCall Concludes Trip to UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq March 14- March 22


Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC

March 29, 2011




Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Dawn L. McCall this week concluded a six-city trip though the Middle East to meet with media and telecommunications industry executives and senior Embassy officials to discuss social media trends and audience usage patterns in today’s changing media environment.
While in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Coordinator McCall met with senior Emirati leadership of the National Media Council; hosted an information exchange program with senior executives from the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, National Geographic, twofour54 Media, and Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage; and spoke to students at the ALHOSN University American Corner about her experiences as a leading American media company executive.
Coordinator McCall continued her meetings with media and mobile industry executives in Doha meeting with executives of Al Jazeera and Vodafone to discuss audience usage trends and technological developments. She also held private consultations with Ambassador Joseph LeBaron and other senior Embassy officials about their evolving information needs.
In Baghdad, Coordinator McCall met Ambassador James Jeffrey and USF-I Commander General Lloyd Austin and spoke at a working session with IREX and Iraqi bloggers about the Bureau’s use of social media to engage special communities of interest. She explained that the Bureau had recently expanded its use of social media to include 20 social media assets operated in seven languages, reaching a fan-base of more than 1.6 million. In addition, she held meetings with representatives of the Journalist Freedom Observatory and Iraqi media leaders and journalists.
In Kuwait Coordinator McCall joined Ambassador Deborah K. Jones for a discussion with Kuwaiti media officials, academic scholars and American Corner directors about how young people are using social media to build coalitions and engage on topics of interest. She met with media research executives to discuss tools and metrics to gauge levels of engagement. She also met with senior library officials at Gulf University of Science and Technology and participated in discussions at the American Corner.
For more information, please send an email to IIPInquires@state.gov.


PRN: 2011/492