Mediated public diplomacy: A strategic contest over international agenda building and frame building

Sheafer Tamir*, Gabay Itay

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

146 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study focuses on the competition over international agenda building and frame building as one central strategic activity of public diplomacy processes. It is the first analysis of a multi-actor contest over agenda and frame building in foreign media focusing on two strategic acts with evident mediated public diplomacy objectives and implications: Israel's disengagement from Gaza and the general elections in the Palestinian Authority. The success of the actors in promoting their agenda and frames in the U.S. and British news media is analyzed, revealing a complex media arena that includes the antagonists, foreign governments, and the media themselves as actors, each trying to promote its own agenda and frames. Cultural and political congruence between a foreign country and an adversary gives that antagonist an advantage over its rival actor. However, the antagonist actor still has to compete with the agenda and frames of foreign governments and media organizations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)447-467
Number of pages21
JournalPolitical Communication
Volume26
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2009

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations and by the Shaine Center for Research in Social Sciences, both at the Hebrew University, and by a grant generously provided by the American Friends of the Hebrew University. We would like to thank Gadi Wolfsfeld, Ken Goldstein, and the reviewers for their comments and advice on earlier versions of this article.

Keywords

  • Agenda building
  • Frame building
  • Framing contest
  • Public diplomacy
  • Strategic framing

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