The Bush administration has done a poor job of keeping Americans and foreigners informed about international policy, and we are not the only ones taking notice.

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy reported Wednesday that the American government needs to make efforts to better inform overseas and domestic audiences of its foreign policies.

The commission said overseas audiences receive negative messages from rogue states and terrorist groups, as well as U.S. and international news and entertainment outlets.

The report is right, U.S. leaders need to make better efforts to inform the public. Part of the reason why other countries have negative images of us is because of the way the Bush administration handles media relations.

President Bush has had very few press conferences in his two years in office - the number could be counted on one hand. That gives people very little information about what’s going on abroad.

People can only make inferences of foreign policy based on what Bush tells the press. If the president cannot be available to the press, he is not available to the people. That’s not right. The president works for the people.

The more information people have, the better we can understand the issues facing our nation.

The government’s efforts to better inform audiences, both home and abroad, shouldn’t be to simply put on a better face. That would be propaganda. All the government needs to do is improve public relations.

The advisory commission report said the emphasis on foreign policy began its decline after the end of the Cold War and was not recognized as a major concern until after Sept. 11, 2001.

The government needs to act quickly to turn America’s public image back in the right direction. The people deserve and need to know what their government is up to.