TRANSNATIONAL JOURNALISM, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, AND VIRTUAL STATES

As a public diplomacy tool, transnational journalism (principally broadcasting) has long had appeal to governments. It is a relatively efficient and inexpensive way to reach potentially vast audiences throughout the world with messages that presumably possess added credibility when wrapped in the trappings of journalism. Non-state actors, including media organizations themselves, may conduct their own versions of public diplomacy. New communication technologies have led to an expanded number of players in this field and to an even larger audience, which has gradually become more sophisticated and less credulous. Broadcasters are no longer just broadcasters. The most creative among them use Internet-based media to enhance their reach and influence. For purveyors of public diplomacy to earn and maintain the trust of the publics they seek to reach requires an adherence to established principles of journalism, more specifically those of foreign correspondence. If this occurs, a new genre of international reporting may take shape and help compensate for the diminished amount of traditional reporting from abroad.