The latest round of WikiLeaks carried some bad news for Qatari public diplomacy, in the form of US embassy cables stating that the Qatari government is using Al Jazeera as a political bargaining tool. The leaked cables, from 2009, claim that Qatar has offered to stop Al Jazeera broadcasts in Egypt in return for Egypt’s cooperation in reaching a “settlement for the Palestinians”.

The latest round of WikiLeaks carried some bad news for Qatari public diplomacy, in the form of US embassy cables stating that the Qatari government is using Al Jazeera as a political bargaining tool.

MKs and members of both new and traditional media complained Tuesday that the government’s public diplomacy strategy was ineffective and did not meet the needs of modern communications or successfully represent Israel’s interests.

Mark Thompson last week used his first speech since the government's dramatic decision to freeze the licence fee for six years to welcome the World Service back into the BBC fold...The problem is that by the time it takes on responsibilty for the organisation, it may already have shrunk as a result of Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) cuts.

The diplomatic cable urged US to consider a new raft of anti-Bin Laden propaganda through the Voice of America radio station, interviews with Bin Laden victims, "commissioned articles" in the local press and an anti-Bin Laden website.

At dinner in Prague with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s president, Jeff Gedmin, and half a dozen RFE/RL staffers, Gedmin said, to no one in particular, “Do you think at any time in the future history will look back and say, ‘I wish they hadn’t broadcast so much information’?”

The decision is a blow for ABC managing director Mark Scott, who lobbied heavily for the contract to be retained by the broadcaster. It will allow Australian News Channel's Sky News... to bid for the right to broadcast news and entertainment services into the Asia-Pacific region.

When you look at the expansion of international broadcasting as an arm of soft diplomacy, governments are using their public broadcasters to do this work," [ABC managing director, Mark Scott] said. "We need to continue to put Australia on display, using the most powerful tools available - the tools of modern communication...