Global Media &Communication: Propaganda and Diplomacy

Global Media &Communication: Propaganda and Diplomacy
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Global Media &Communication: Propaganda and Diplomacy
The contemporary world is characterized by globalization which has been hastened by the ever-improving global communication. Global media is the primary tool that people, cultures and nationals relate to each other by controlling the flow of information. To reiterate the power of global communication, Mattelart (2014), asserted that it (global communication) could manipulate how people see others and how they frame and interpret the events around them through its influence over the economy, politics, military operations and cultural expressions. This power of global communication can be harnessed and used as a powerful diplomatic tool for nations to forward their national agenda. This is the basis of associating global connection with pushing federal programs either using diplomacy or propaganda. Many diplomats have drawn a thin line between the two concepts while others have used them interchangeably. The approach governments take in pushing for the awareness of their political and economic agendas have created more confusion between the terms with scholars as international relations take different forms but are aimed at the same result- national importance. In covering the difference between the concepts, Brown (2008) posed a question as to whether public diplomacy was censored propaganda using a two circle demonstration that shows how they intersect. This paper seeks to provide an analysis of the two concepts to create a clear distinction or blur it further. To achieve this, the study highlights the differences and similarities deriving from examples.
Development in global communication has opened the international arena to further the need for a clear distinction between the two terms (Zaharna, 2004). Zaharna et al. (2014) noted that the advancements in global communication are moving public diplomacy from information dominance to the focus on cultivation relationship which is necessitated by the number of actors in the new media. Melissen (2005) noted the interdependence of both diplomacy and propaganda on global communication by observing that they use the conveyance of information and ideas to foreigners aiming to change or reinforce new attitudes and existing beliefs of the originating country. The discussion following this identification is about the different ways in which propaganda can and has been differentiated from diplomacy. In defining propaganda, Seib (2007) noted that propaganda gives both the sender and receiver in the communication channel a responsibility on how to react to the information for it to be effective. Several similarities create the grey lines in the definitions, but there are also some distinctions that scholars, politicians and the general public have used to differentiate the two.
* Use of global strategic communication
Whether the extent of manipulation is aimed at changing the opinions or encouraging action, both depend on the worldwide connection of the realization of specific objectives. This could be used as the explanation of the emergence of 'new' diplomacy, which is mainly dictated by the evolution of communication ...