RETHINKING MEDIA DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT: DIGITAL MEDIA DIPLOMACY Cover Image

RETHINKING MEDIA DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT: DIGITAL MEDIA DIPLOMACY
RETHINKING MEDIA DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT: DIGITAL MEDIA DIPLOMACY

Author(s): Hasan Saliu
Subject(s): Media studies, Politics and communication, Politics and society, Theory of Communication, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Facultatea de Studii Europene -Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai
Keywords: Media diplomacy; Public diplomacy; Digital diplomacy; Mediatization; Zelensky; Ukraine;

Summary/Abstract: Modern digital media have enabled the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to talk to foreign parliaments while his country is at war. Zelensky’s virtual communications are not aimed at enhancing Ukraine’s international image, as in traditional forms of public diplomacy; rather, they seek to obtain military assistance and reach a mutually beneficial outcome for his country. These, however, are activities of media diplomacy, a concept that scholars have abandoned over the last two decades in favour of public diplomacy. Through a critical review, this study examines the division between these concepts and other related concepts and analyses the role of the media in international communications, including those in times of war. The widespread use of technology and social media, as well as the specific diplomatic communications that have allowed Zelensky to talk to the world, have led to the conclusion that the current concepts of media diplomacy, public diplomacy, and digital diplomacy are not appropriate in the current circumstances. Therefore, a new concept is proposed: digital media diplomacy.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 39
  • Page Range: 04-24
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: English
Toggle Accessibility Mode