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...

Last semester, I had planned to do a research project on the public diplomacy of the Kurds and Palestinians. A while back, during the snowpocalypse that was blanketing the nation’s capital, I made my way back east to work on the aforementioned project.

As the global power re-configuration takes shape post-economic crisis, the use of media to perpetuate soft power has taken on added impetus.

LONDON ––Iran’s planned new post-modern embassy is stirring debate here, both for its design and for its location in an historic preservation area.

Descriptions and artists’ renditions show a six-story building cantilevered above and surrounding a smaller street corner structure that would be painted bright yellow.

Now that President Barack Obama has concluded his $200 million per day trip to India (just kidding—that risible far right-wing canard has been thoroughly debunked), it’s a good moment for some initial thoughts about the soft power dimensions of the episode.

Last week's two-day conference, “International Encounter of Journalists: Media Treatment of the Middle East,” was organized to “create a space for reflection and meaningful dialogue about media treatment of the Middle East and its influence on Spanish public opinion.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down with an Australian comedic duo for an interview that aired Tuesday, in which she appeared to to be concerned about the world's image of Americans and the nation's collective lifestyle.