New Media and Public Diplomacy in the New Arab World

Abstract

New media—meaning satellite television and Internet-based media—are crucial to public diplomacy efforts directed at the Arab world and to those emanating from Arab states. As the events of 2011 have so dramatically shown, the region’s media ecology has evolved and traditional assumptions have changed with global implications. The hegemonic influence of Western media has drastically diminished, and so the hubristic premise of much Western public diplomacy has similarly been undermined. At the same time, some Arab states, most notably Qatar, have found that their own media can play a valuable role in public diplomacy. Further, during the Arab revolutions, social media have become important (although sometimes overrated) tools for political change in the region.