This work presents and critically evaluates attempts to theorize and conceptualize public diplomacy within several disciplines, including international relations, strategic studies, diplomatic studies, public relations, and communication. It also examines research methods used to investigate public diplomacy, including models, paradigms, case studies, and comparative analysis. The work identifies promising directions as well as weaknesses and gaps in existing knowledge and methodology and outlines a new research agenda. The presented analysis and examples suggest that only a systematic multidisciplinary effort and close collaboration between researchers and practitioners can lead to a coherent theory of public diplomacy.

https://study.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/The%20ANNALS%20of%20the%20American%20Academy%20of%20Political%20and%20Social%20Science-2008-Gilboa-55-77.pdf

Searching for a Theory of Public Diplomacy

The Tahrir Data Project gathers empirical data on media use during the Egyptian revolution of January and February 2011. The Project consists of three data sets documenting media use by protesters, by coordinators, and by transnational audiences. Preliminary descriptive analysis of the data suggests that social media use was not dominant in demonstrations, but may have played an important role in connecting and motivating protesters. Metrics for media use by protesters indicate a strong presence of activities and characteristics commonly associated with communication in protests to social media and social media users. These metrics, along with preliminary data on coordinator strategies and preliminary analysis of the #jan25 tweet set, suggest an important but complex role played by social media in the Egyptian revolution of 2011. The data and preliminary analysis are presented here, together with a number of research questions for further study.

The Arab Spring| Digital Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Descriptive Analysis from the Tahrir Data Set

This article expands the scope of agenda-building research, which has traditionally focused on the ability of press releases, press conferences, and political ads to influence media coverage. In-depth interviews with political reporters and editors at US newspapers during the 2012 campaign found that tweets from political leaders are used by journalists in ways that suggest first- and second-level agenda building. Participants gave examples of how political tweets have shaped their coverage in terms of the events they cover, the sources they interview, the quotes they use, and the background information they rely on to decide how to cover an issue. In addition, political tweets that contribute the most to coverage tend to have several elements in common.

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The agenda-building function of political tweets

Managing national reputation and international relations in the global era: Public diplomacy revisited

This article compares communication technologies within and across crises, using evidence from contemporary postings in 68,022 blogs and news feeds and using a semi-automatic method to detect words that increase in usage during a crisis. Three case studies from 2005 are used: the July 7 London attacks, the New Orleans hurricane, and the Pakistan-Kashmir earthquake. The results highlight the information provision importance for bloggers of Web 2.0 resources such as Wikinews, the Wikipedia, and the Flickr picture sharing site, although these still play a minor role in comparison to the mass media. Some personal communication methods were also mentioned significantly, including SMS and cellphones, but the newest technologies of those mentioned were all Web 2.0. The importance of electronic communication for bloggers was found to depend on the nature of the crisis: For example, despite the heavy Pakistan-Kashmir earthquake death toll, there was relatively little interest in related communication issues from English language bloggers and news sources.

RUOK? Blogging Communication Technologies During Crises

China's agenda building and image polishing in the US: Assessing an international public relations campaign

Public diplomacy as symbolic interactions: A case study of Asian tsunami relief campaigns

Beyond anti-terrorism: Metaphors as message strategy of post-September-11 U.S. public diplomacy

A contingency approach to the Sino-U.S. conflict resolution

Journalists' use of sources and the effects on news production have been widely studied in media research. Use of official government sources and anonymous sources has been particularly examined in a critical way because of its effects upon journalistic credibility, as well as ethical and legal issues that often result from use of sources. When national security and legal issues are involved, journalists' sourcing use becomes even more complicated. This article analyzes the sources used by The New York Times in its coverage of a legal case involving U.S. national security.The New York Times reporters Risen and Gerth first broke the story of a suspected Chinese spy on March 6,1999. The next day, Wen ho Lee, a 60-year-old Taiwan-born, Chinese-American scientist working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was questioned by the FBI. Months later he was indicted on 59 felony counts of mishandling national security information. On Sept. 13, 2000, however, Lee pleaded guilty to just one count and was sentenced to time in prison. The government exonerated Lee of any connection with the W-88 warhead he had been accused of stealing for China. The final count that the prosecutors used was a minor transgression of laboratory rules.1The NewYork Times played an important role throughout the case. In an article in the American Journalism Review, Fleeson wrote that "the Wen ho Lee saga will be remembered as a case study of what can go wrong...when even highly regarded reporters rely on unnamed, inside-the-Beltway sources and leaks about law enforcement investigation," and that The New York Times "uncritically embraced the outlook of investigators in its coverage of the case."2 Scheer of Nation magazine noted that The New York Times uncritically accepted leaks from the Cox committee as truth, and that "the reporters relied heavily on unnamed sources and one named source, Trulock (the chief of intelligence at the Energy Department, added by the author).. .who had been involved in Wen Ho Lee's investigation." He further reported that "Trulock's secret, leaked to The Times' reporters, was taken as unquestioned gospel and formed the basis of the newspaper's claim."3 In its conclusive editor's note, The New York Times, itself, admitted that "We find that we too quickly accepted the government's theory that espionage was the main reason...."4Some articles criticizing the media coverage of the legal case discussed The New York Times' sourcing, particularly its use of leaks from officials. For example, Morse of Time magazine doubted whether the Neiv York Times should have relied on Trulock as a source because "recent affidavits in the case allege that Trulock, then the Energy Department's intelligence director, targeted Lee because of his race."5 Heylin criticized The New York Times for ignoring journalistic integrity when it reported the case "without thoroughly checking the information it received."6 Joshua pointed out that the journalists sensationalized the stories and "allowed themselves to become the mouthpieces of propagandists."7 Sheer said he believed that the leak from the Cox Committee was "a nonevent" that was "never substantiated and was scoffed at by most experts," but was used by the newspaper to "smear a U.S. citizen." Sheer also said Trulock's secret testimony, leaked to The New York Times' reporters, "was taken as unquestioned gospel."8 Mesler, a Washington D.C.-based journalist, pointed out as early as 1999 that the case against Lee had turned out to be "laughably circumstantial, based largely on illegal, politicized Republican leaks," and that some of The New York Times articles were based on illegal leaks about the ongoing investigation.9These accusations invariably questioned the sources used by The New York Times in reporting the case. Of course, there might be other causes that led to the controversial outcome of the investigative coverage, but the sources used appeared to be a key factor. …

Juyan Zhang

Papers

China's agenda building and image polishing in the US: Assessing an international public relations campaign

Public diplomacy as symbolic interactions: A case study of Asian tsunami relief campaigns

Beyond anti-terrorism: Metaphors as message strategy of post-September-11 U.S. public diplomacy

A contingency approach to the Sino-U.S. conflict resolution

Study finds sourcing patterns in Wen Ho Lee coverage