Social media has changed the face of diplomacy and governments must adapt to their loss of control over information, a US state department official says. Richard Buangan, managing director for international media engagement, said times had changed with the public’s growing access to information and news worldwide. [...] Elites are no longer seen as gatekeepers of information and diplomats worldwide have become spokespeople for governments.

All the panelists asserted that media should exert efforts to enhance the image of Arabs. Arabs needs to have long-term partnership with the US in various fields. For example, there should be exchange of visits in the field of education. Arab governments should provide scholarships to young Americans to study and know the Arab culture and to have experience of their life, they suggested, noting that many Arab students receive scholarship in the US.

The CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the parent organization for the Voice of America, told a panel commemorating World Press Freedom Day that there is a war of information happening in the world. The BBG and George Washington University's School for Media and Public Affairs organized the panel in Washington on Monday to discuss the challenges of international journalism, the rise of fake news and how media can establish credibility.

A high-profile media forum to be held in Dubai next week will feature an Arab News panel discussion examining the region’s image abroad. [...] A report titled “The Arab Image in the US” will be unveiled at the event. It is based on an exclusive survey of how the American public views the Arab world, conducted in partnership between Arab News, the Dubai Press Club and research and polling specialist YouGov.

Stopfake.org, a group of researchers from the Mohyla School of Journalism in Kyiv, have identified two strong narratives in their study of Russian propaganda about the Euro Maidan: first, that it was a coup d’état directed by the U.S.; and second, that power was seized in Kyiv by a fascist regime. [...] With a lack of clear narratives and facts from the Ukrainian government, the Western media fell for the Kremlin’s skillful falsehoods.

On a balmy mid-March evening, 11 Russian journalists clustered around a table in one of Austin’s time-honored barbeque joints, a platter piled high with brisket and a trough of mashed potatoes between them. The group had gathered for a traditional southern meal on the final evening of a ten-day press tour sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the State Department’s Foreign Press Center.