Probe TV Bids Farewell to Ambassador Kristie Kenney

January 18, 2010 By in Ambassadors, Foreign Service, FSOs, Realities of the FS, U.S. Missions
Last week, Probe TV in the Philippines did a profile of the outgoing US Ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney.  The show is also on replay apparently every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and every Saturday at 12 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
“The show that started investigative reporting on Philippine TV is on to a new brand of probing. To explain issues relevant to the public, on its 22nd year, ‘Probe’ takes a harder look at the men and women of the hour.”

Here is Probe TV’s introduction to the video:  Farewell, Ambassador Kenney

In the more than 100-year-old love-hate relationship between the Philippines and the United States, no American envoy was spared of occasional brickbats until Ambassador Kristie Kenney. The first female US ambassador to the Philippines has endeared herself to Filipinos from all walks of life in just less than four years.

Reaching out to Filipinos, Kenney embraced the country’s culture and people in a way that no other envoy did — letting her hair down and dancing on national television, watching her favorite basketball teams in action, mingling with ordinary citizens, and visiting a rebel camp in Mindanao, among others.

As she prepares to leave her post, Ambassador Kenney shares something more with Filipinos — her life story, for the first time, this Wednesday on ‘Probe Profiles.’

In an exclusive interview with Cheche Lazaro, the Ambassador looks back at the milestones of her tour of duty and candidly talks about her childhood and love life that can pass for a telenovela. Through interviews with Kenney’s co-workers in the embassy and her two household staff, Lazaro pieces together a profile of the Ambassador who gave a new meaning to diplomacy in the Philippines.

The show is in Tagalog and English and subtitles in English.  Transcript of the interview in English is here.  I also appended below the link to the Shall We Dance Christmas (episode 20)  from last December where Ambassador Kenney also appeared (cited in part 1 of the video).

I think they did an excellent profile and she came across really well.  They covered topics ranging from her posting in Jamaica as a junior officer, to her stint in the Executive Secretariat (S/ES), navigating being a tandem couple (her husband, Bill Brownfield was first appointed as US Ambassador to Chile and she was going to be the ambassador’s wife),  being offered the ambassadorship to the Philippines by Secretary Rice (while she was serving as US Ambassador to Ecuador), US-Philippine relations and more.  Read the interview here.

Related Post:

US Amb to the Philippines Kristie Kenney Blogs Farewell

Related Item:

Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s Farewell Reception (Flickr)