The media and public diplomacy

Robert Walker

Chapter 7 in Is China Right?, 2026, pp 84-98 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Public diplomacy, governments communicating directly with populations in other countries, aims to increase soft power but is also weaponised against adversaries. Western countries have long practised public diplomacy, currently emphasising the need to counter untruths with truth, while China is a relative newcomer. Whereas domestic journalism aspires to hold governments to account, in international affairs it is deliberately, or inadvertently, coopted as a channel of public diplomacy. Measures of national soft power are unreliable but typically rate the US top, Britain high and China relatively high but with variability across measures. Positive public sentiment towards China has recently fallen dramatically in Western countries, possibly because of public diplomacy. Without independent media, it is impossible to hold international power to account or to counter propaganda. Western media coverage of China, illustrated by the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, smacks of public diplomacy or poor journalism.

Keywords: Public Diplomacy; Media; Soft Power; National Branding; Public Attitudes; Covid-19; Xinjiang (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035329229
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