What character does the U.S. have in the fantastical lands of Bollywood? A handful of recent films have truly absorbed America into their land of dreams. They’ve ditched most of the stereotypes about corrupt, debauched Westerners seen in films from past eras...but they also creatively use American settings for stories that deal with the unique risks and freedoms of the 21st-century world.

The technological and informational revolutions that have spurred (and continue to spur) globalization and interconnectedness between cultures make it impossible for tyrants to rule for the entirety of their lifetimes while mercilessly subjugating their peoples to lives of servitude with no prospect of ever tasting the true meaning of freedom.

Sesame Workshop provides a top-notch creative model...for conducting public diplomacy. But the real significance of this program is that it appropriates the power of citizen diplomacy to the youngest of the youth population. In a country like India, with 160 million children under the age of six, this is no small feat, and it’s a unique means of empowering a new generation of citizen diplomats.

China’s state-owned broadcaster has launched an aggressive international push to extend the country’s influence, opening a new headquarters in Washington that will broadcast English-language programming from the heart of the US capital. CCTV has also built a studio facility in Nairobi...and plans to open a broadcasting centre in Europe.

APDS Blogger: Maya Babla

For Nusrat Durrani, senior vice president and general manager of MTV World, the connective tissue that binds cultures and countries is music. It also provides the insistent beat that drives MTV’s newest multi-platform global music brand, MTV Iggy, a channel that aims to bring artists and pop culture from around the world to America.

Xinhua remains a mouthpiece for the Communist Party. Its news stories and commentaries rarely stray from the party line...It doesn’t bode well for China’s efforts abroad that the country remains among the harshest censors of news and most aggressive in harassing journalists, both domestic and foreign.