television diplomacy

The events from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen and now Libya also shined a spotlight on Al Jazeera, as the Qatar-based news network used its well-positioned reporters to garner scoops and become, almost overnight, a new must-view for millions of global citizens interested in the big Middle East story.

"New media and old media converge to become now media." That maxim, so persuasively articulated by 21st century public diplomacy guru Matt Armstrong, has now become real in a Voice of America Persian language television program called Parazit.

As we reported last week, while AJE is carried in some small markets (and on satellite) here in the U.S., most cable operators don’t seem to be eager to carry the network. Now, AJE is pushing back.

Shah Rukh Khan's new TV show starting on Tuesday explores new frontiers of Indian diplomacy — more specifically, how Bollywood is at the cutting edge of influencing new continents. The TV series 'Wipe Out (Zor ka Jhatka)' will show stunning videos of Argentina for the next couple of weeks.

January 30, 2011

Call it sitcom diplomacy. Last month, Katie Couric suggested it was past time to apply that magic to Muslims in America. Her example was "The Cosby Show."

During the street demonstrations in Tunis, amidst the signs demanding “Ben Ali Out” were placards saying “Thank you, Al Jazeera.” The Qatar-based pan-Arab television network has never been allowed to open a bureau in Tunisia – a prescient if ultimately unsuccessful tactic by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s government...

January 21, 2011

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s recent documentary about trade in shark-fins focused on Costa Rica and the pariah state of Taiwan.... While this undoubtedly made for compelling television viewing on the UK’s Channel 4 TV station on Sunday January 16 (soon to be aired in the USA), for analysts of public diplomacy and soft power, the incident demonstrates a number of underlying truths.

It would seem then that the 23-year-old television actor was the perfect choice for host of On the Road, Afghanistan's first travelogue and one of the country's most popular television programs. Sponsored by USAID, the show has just entered its second season.

Pages