China will tighten restrictions on foreign and "foreign-inspired" television programs, its broadcast regulator said, in a bid to boost production of domestic shows that promote Chinese patriotism and traditions.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in May 2014. [...] His political mandate to foster economic growth has become a tool to reach out to the international community and, simultaneously, to reshape India’s image. His interactions with political leaders from other countries have generally increased global interest in India and gained favourable comment in the foreign press.

Chinese influence in Australia is growing across a broad front, from political donations to Confucius Institute teachings in primary schools and university institutes funded from Beijing. These continuing efforts to spread soft power have found a new friend, with an announcement that content from Chinese newspapers and wires will run in Australian media and on the Sky TV cable television channel.

To those who study nation branding, this entrepreneurial bent is a strong part of America’s brand, or the image it projects to the world. Peter Hirshberg, CEO of The Re:Imagine Group and a former Apple executive, notes that the U.S. offers an “opportunity promise” to people around the globe, a promise that includes “a deep streak of individual liberty.”

The United States has overtaken Britain as the world’s leading “soft power”, according to a survey claiming that US President Barack Obama’s diplomatic moves in Iran, Cuba and Asia have helped to shift global opinion of the superpower. [...] The Soft Power 30 survey uses a range of polling and digital data to measure a country’s appeal on issues ranging from government, culture and cuisine to education, enterprise and the attractiveness of luxury brands.

In recent weeks, business deals between Australian and Chinese media groups have raised concerns over potential Chinese government influence in the Australian press. But according to a report in the Australian Financial Review, the media is not the only institution that has recently received Chinese government money as part of a soft power push by Beijing.

Saudi Arabia has an image problem. From allegations of exporting a radical Islamist ideology, to the war on Yemen and gender rights, the country’s reputation often takes a battering around the world. Now, the culture ministry has been given the challenging task of improving domestic and international perceptions, while delivering a 10 per cent increase in positive media coverage of the kingdom by 2020.