Media as International Actor

A journalist tries to interview supporters of Benazir Bhutto inside a police van after they were arrested outside the residence of Benazir Bhutto in Lahore, Pakistan (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

The Age of Media Diplomacy

This issue focuses on the media as an actor in international relations. With the unprecedented speed and reach of today’s global communication network, governments and other international players increasingly use the media to engage with each other.

Through our writing, we hope that you get a sense of the diverse roles of media in this regard as: a message sender, a space for informal negotiations, a terrorist tool, a humanitarian fundraiser, a stage for global media events, and more. In other words, media do much more that present news; the words and images they contain are vital to the conduct of international relations.

Once again, we hope you enjoy our work.

Did you know...

CNN’s Green Promotion Finds Them
Red in the Face
By Magda Kalowska

Thousands of advertising inserts promoting a CNN program dedicated to raising awareness of the depletion of Earth’s natural resources hit the stands in a recent issue of USA Today. Stephen Colbert complained that the large, glossy posters for ‘Planet in Peril’ in each of 2.3 million newspaper copies, in fact, translated into 13.8 million square feet of ‘Planetary Peril’ -- even though CNN claimed the paper was recycled. After all, deforestation is part of the global warming issue. Is this hypocrisy or a much needed strategy in a society of visuals?!