Concern about Iran and their Hezbollah proxies' strategic push into the Americas has finally caught the White House's attention...This includes... conducting a full-bore public diplomacy campaign for regional audiences on Iran's intentions and activities in the region and the dangers for their societies therein.

Lebanon today witnessed one of the largest public diplomacy “events” staged by Iran, in the form of a formal state visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While a state visit as such is not normally framed as a public diplomacy event, Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon was marked by a degree of idiosyncrasy. This is not just because of Ahmadinejad himself (who excelled at the role of modest and earnest leader), but also because of the role played by Hizbullah in this public diplomacy event.

Andy Sternberg provided invaluable research support for this report.

The American government's satellite news channel, Alhurra, while still well below the audience ratings of the well-entrenched Arabic TV news channels, appears to be catching on with audiences in the Middle East.

USC Ph.D candidate Jade Miller argues that Hezbollah is public diplomacy’s biggest winner in the ongoing Middle East dispute. She also notes the actions associated with each party involved in the conflict.

The media has chosen sides in the Israel-Hezbollah War, and much is ugly.

Some errant media players have emerged. One is a behemoth news service, whose products -- including newspaper and TV news reports -- have an audience of many millions worldwide. Another is a world-renowned news brand, whose reports are said to be biased. Then there is someone from a major daily newspaper promoting a book, and saying really stupid things. But there are those who boldly set the record straight in their reports.