A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Vietnam to pursue foreign policy of peace in 2009
This year will see an increase in campaigns to capitalise on and build the image of the nation abroad and the deployment of a series of projects and programmes to mark the 40th death anniversary and 120th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh, in an effort to honour the nation’s greatest leader as a global icon.
Cap in hand, calculator at the ready
"It made absolutely no sense to abolish two programs that promote external international marketing of Canadian cultural products," argues Brian Anthony, CEO of the Directors Guild of Canada, in reference to the PromArt and Trade Routes programs, which helped promote and send Canadian artists abroad.
Virtual Islam: Peace, Love, and Some Understanding?
After spending a year exploring life in digital Islamic communities, a new project finds that people are building new narratives to find ways to co-exist; their report even includes a policy recommendation for the Obama Administration's diplomacy efforts in the Middle East.
Blogs, YouTube: the New Battleground of Gaza Conflict
The recent battle in Gaza between Israel and Hamas wasn't only fought with bullets, bombs, and missiles, but also with keystrokes. Observers say that through Facebook, YouTube, and other Web-based applications, the online community participated in shaping the news, and was enlisted in the effort to influence public opinion in an unprecedented – and sometimes worrisome – way.
Pope Launches Vatican on YouTube
Pope Benedict XVI has launched his own dedicated channel on the popular video sharing website, YouTube. Video and audio footage of his speeches as well as news of the Holy See will be posted on the site, the Vatican says. Although the Vatican has its own website, the YouTube venture represents its biggest reach into cyberspace, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome.
Wilson shares administration’s view on diplomacy
The future of public diplomacy, both within the scope of U.S. foreign policy and here at USC, depends heavily on the ability to take advantage of the convergence of new media, Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III said Thursday. Wilson’s remarks, which came at a roundtable discussion sponsored by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, focused on public diplomacy’s increasingly influential role in the Obama administration and referenced Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ recommendation for increased funding for the State Department.
Why Judith McHale would be a bad public diplomacy choice
Whoever is appointed as Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy needs to be in a position to quickly assert authority over an inter-agency balance currently sharply skewed towards the Pentagon. And that's not even getting into the enormous challenges facing U.S. public diplomacy out there in the real world.
Friends With High Numbers
Official Washington is abuzz with word that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is poised to tap a longtime friend and Democratic mega-donor as her undersecretary for public diplomacy. Judith A. McHale, one of the area's most prominent female executives, who stepped down in 2006 as president of Discovery Communications, may take a job that has been especially difficult given Washington's reputation abroad.
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