Newspapers Urged to Tout Envoys’ Work

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell urged newspaper publishers Friday to tell the story of U.S. diplomats and the work they do so Americans will support a foreign policy that “has us engaged” in the world.

Powell said that one of his major missions will be to fight for better salaries, more secure embassies and more recognition for the men and women who work for the State Department.

“I hope as you do your work back home you will from time to time say a good word about these men and women--I hope that you will recognize them,” he said in a speech to the National Newspaper Assn.’s annual government affairs conference.

“It is important for us to take the message of what we do in the State Department not just to foreign capitals but to every hamlet, every town, every city in America so that we can get the kind of support we need for a foreign policy that has us engaged, that has us pursuing realistic objectives.”

The newspaper association is a 116-year-old nonprofit trade organization representing owners, publishers and editors of community newspapers. With 3,600 members, it is the largest newspaper association in the country.

Powell drew applause when he told the group that, regardless of the Internet and broadcast news, there will always be a need for newspapers. “Millions of Americans get from your newspapers the kind of in-depth exposure to foreign news events that no newscast can provide.

“You will always have an important role to play, no matter how this world changes, and I will use you” to spread the message on U.S. foreign policy, he said.

In a wide-ranging speech on events of recent days, Powell said the United States and Russia “will get through” current difficulties over the U.S. expulsion of suspected Russian spies. Moscow has retaliated by ordering U.S. diplomats expelled from its country.

He also said that, as long as Cuban President Fidel Castro maintains a regime of repression, U.S. “sanctions will remain in place.”