Even though Western music and movies are a major export to the Middle East, many people there support censoring these programs if they are deemed offensive. This is one of several findings in a new study on Middle Eastern media habits by Northwestern University in Qatar.

Tags: media, social media, film diplomacy, cinema, qatar, middle east, public opinion

In February, the United Nations released a remarkably comprehensive report on North Korea's human rights abuses. The report interviewed 320 people, including a number of survivors from the notorious secret political system, and concluded that the country was committing human rights violations “without any parallel in the contemporary world.”

Tags: human rights, north korea, united states, human rights report, korean central news agency, asia pacific, media

U.S. lawmakers apparently now believe that the way to counter Russia's information offensive is by supplying propaganda of our own. The code for this is "messaging" -- in other words, the priority should be on "getting America's message out."

Tags: propaganda, russia, united states, russia today, voice of america, radio free europe, broadcasting board of governors, bbg, international broadcasting, media, europe, vladimir putin, ukraine, u.s. department of state

Anthony Bourdain pays a neighborly visit to the United States' "brother from another mother," the politically complex nation of Mexico, and finds an equally complex type of food. "I think most American’s view of Mexican food is like beans, fried tortilla, melted cheese and some chicken," Bourdain says.

Tags: gastrodiplomacy, gastronomy, culinary diplomacy, mexico, anthony bourdain, tourism, united states, oaxaca, nation branding

Korean pop, which is radically increasing in global popularity, is setting the tone for the nation's mourning by going absolutely silent. Billboard reported this week that K-pop charts have come to a standstill, as music and TV programming have halted as well. This is unprecedented.

Tags: south korea, Cultural Diplomacy, music diplomacy, k-pop, media, television, yellow ribbon campaign, sewol ferry

Armed gunmen wearing military fatigues burst into the office of Roman Lazorenko in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk recently. They had a simple request for the local journalist. The men said they didn't want to be called separatists anymore, Lazorenko told the Guardian. They demanded that journalists instead refer to them as “supporters of federalization."

Tags: ukraine, media, protest, russia, western media, conflict, donetsk, international broadcasting, journalism

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rode around Google headquarters last spring in the company's self-driving car, tried on Google Glass eyewear and vowed to keep digitizing the economy in the country he has ruled since 2003.

Tags: turkey, google, twitter, social media, recep tayyip erdogan, europe, censorship, internet, surveillance, protest

I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Ardaiolo of the Public Diplomat, a podcast and website produced by students and scholars at Syracuse University’s public diplomacy program. I speak about my research into how digital platforms have been incorporated into US public diplomacy, and how this reflects broader institutional shifts in the practice and discourse of PD.

Tags: public diplomacy, united states, digital diplomacy, craig hayden, ukraine, internet, new technology