Fears over crumbling public
  support for the coalition have prompted the Bush administration to launch a
  new propaganda offensive. 
  The US
  president has appointed a top advertising executive, Charlotte Beers, as the
  new Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy. 
  The move comes less than two weeks after the announcement that a
  media centre is to be set up in Islamabad.
  
  Ms Beers' job will be to coordinate the contact between the
  government and the media. 
  Many see her appointment as a sign that the administration is
  dissatisfied with the way the conflict has been covered. 
  "Certainly in the Arab world and in the Muslim world,
  there's a feeling here in Washington
  that the US
  did not get its message out promptly or effectively," Washington Post
  assistant editor and chief foreign correspondent Jim Hoagland said in an
  interview. 
  But he believes hiring a high profile advertising executive is
  not the answer. 
  
  "The idea that putting out Madison Avenue techniques is
  going to solve the problem is going to be something that the astute American
  public is going to see through pretty quickly," he said. 
  Charlotte Beers has been dubbed "the most famous woman in
  advertising" and was chairman of J Walter Thompson until her contract
  expired last month. 
  She will report to Colin Powell as one of just six
  undersecretaries of state. 
  Ms Beers has worked with Mr Powell before. She and her new boss
  served together on the board of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. 
  Media centre 
  Ms Beers' appointment marks the coalition's second propaganda
  offensive this month. 
  On 1 November, the US
  and Britain
  announced that a "Coalition Information Centre" is to be set up in Islamabad.
  
  Similar centres will open in London
  and Washington
  to counter what the prime minister's official spokesman refers to as
  "untruths and lies". 
  The UK
  and US are believed to fear that time differences are giving the Taleban a
  public relations head start, so that their version of the night's events
  dominates the Pakistani news agenda. Islamabad
  is five hours ahead of London
  and 10 hours ahead of New
    York. 
  But a London-based Arabic paper describes the coalition's
  strategy as "dangerous". 
  "The intervention by the US
  and British governments in the media services and dissemination of
  information to people endangers the future of political and civil
  freedoms," said an article in Al-Hayat published on Saturday, "not
  only in the United
    States and Britain,
  but also in all the countries in the world. 
  "This step will... encourage undemocratic regimes to
  continue to control the press and media and justify for these regimes the
  continued existence of information ministries and political propaganda
  mouthpieces."