The recently published 2011 BBC World Service Country Rating Poll, which surveys global perceptions about “16 major countries, plus the European Union”, has confirmed for many Pakistanis that they are getting the short end of the stick around the world.

Israel's Minister of Public Diplomacy, Yuli Edelstein, recorded a special message for Yisrael Sheli’s Online Ambassadors. In the video, the Minister gave a few tips about how to best represent Israel.

Over the last century or so, Israelis have worked to make Israel a part of the Middle East. Israeli sabras (native born Israelis) with their argumentative attitudes; take no prisoners mentality; love for hummus, falafel and “Israeli” salad; tan skin; the yalla (let’s go) and no-translation needed ‘tseh (tongue hiss) live up to the Middle Eastern stereotypes and fit in with regional commonalities. If a tourist was dropped off in a nightclub or beach in Beirut or Tel Aviv, the only notable difference between the patrons would be the spoken language.

Shi Anbin, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, and Zheng Yannong, deputy director of China International Public Relations Association, talk with the Guangzhou Daily about how China should enact a public relations (PR) strategy to enhance its image in the world.

China wants to use both inbound and outbound tourism to help promote its international image, which has been battered by endless product and food safety scandals and ethnic unrest.

The Swiss Islamic Shura Central Council is offering a series of workshops and seminars that began 8 January in Zurich to help Muslims learn to work with media to ensure better and fairer presentations of Muslims and Islam.

The ugly American — the stereotypically brutish, ethnocentric, bumbling traveler abroad — is dead. He's gone the way of global U.S. hegemony, the strong dollar and mid-20th century American naivete.

Turkish soap operas have conquered the Balkans reversing Turkey's negative image with the Balkan nations from the time of the Ottoman yoke, according to Austrian paper Der Standard. Turkey's film industry is not only making money from the showing of its soaps in Balkan countries... but it is also helping out the Turkish diplomacy, the newspaper says in an article entitled "Ottoman Television Runs Like Clockwork."