Hughes Is Picked for Image Job

Karen P. Hughes, one of President Bush’s closest advisors, was nominated Monday to take charge of the struggling State Department effort to improve America’s image abroad, especially in the Islamic world.

“Clearly, in the world after Sept. 11, we must do a better job of engaging with the Muslim world,” said Hughes, who appeared before reporters with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “If the United States does not act aggressively to define itself, the extremists will gladly do the job for us.”

When she joins Rice as undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs, two of Bush’s closest aides will be working together in the department.

“We simply must do more to confront hateful propaganda, dispel dangerous myths and get out the truth,” Rice said.

Hughes, a former TV reporter who has given Bush political and communications advice, has little foreign policy experience. She left the White House three years ago to move back to Texas. But a member of two committees that studied the public diplomacy effort said Hughes was “ the dream candidate we recommended.”

“Truth is the best propaganda around the world, so it will be her job to tell the truth as propaganda, and do that in a very skillful way, and I think she’ll do that,” political and business consultant David Morey said.

Rice and Hughes said that in addition to getting Washington’s message out, Hughes would be listening.

“Our interaction with the rest of the world must not be a monologue, it must be a conversation,” Rice said.

The State Department has launched several initiatives to improve its public diplomacy since the beginning of Bush’s first term. But the efforts have been criticized as poorly designed and heavy-handed and have reached only a small audience.

Times staff writer Sonni Efron contributed to this report.