News frames represent the way an issue is processed and presented by the media. As such, news frames have great influence over public opinion and could therefore be useful in controlling a country’s image abroad. This study builds upon existing literature and theories in an attempt to bring scholarship closer to an understanding of what frames are most likely to be effective for use in public diplomacy by identifying what frames and frame types currently influence audiences internationally. Specifically, The study examines what structures are commonly used to frame international issues, what frame content may not be accepted by a foreign audience and the extent to which elites control the local framing competition. This thesis uses both a framing discourse analysis and a content analysis to evaluate news stories from American, Chinese and Vietnamese outlets as well as American elites. The results found that while elites appear to control the general direction of framing in a country, American journalists are willing to suggest other frames as long as they enhance the drama of the narrative. However, this storytelling imperative is not likely to cross a line into questioning the legitimacy of the media’s home country, indicating that such challenging messages should be avoided in public diplomacy. Frequency of frame structure (conflict, responsibility and consequence) use was also identified, and a positive correlation found between privately owned media and use of consequence frame types. Given the less antagonistic nature of these frame structures, they may be extremely effective in public diplomacy communications - as long as the right consequence is emphasised. It is hoped that these findings will aid scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy in identifying effective ways to communicate messages across countries, and that it will strengthen the argument for the role of ‘listening’ in public diplomacy.

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This thesis studies a case of U.S. mediated public diplomacy in Romania by analyzing the Romanian media framing as compared to the U.S. embassy’s framing of a public diplomacy crisis. It seeks to participate in the discussion about public diplomacy in general and mediated public diplomacy in particular. The case, from 2004, concerns the death of Romanian rock star, Teo Peter, in a car accident caused by an American marine serving in the U.S. embassy. A public diplomacy crisis situation focuses on the U.S. mediated public diplomacy efforts to prevent damaging its image; and also intensifies media’s interest on writing about the subject. The analysis in this study is based on the investigation of the similarities and differences in the frames used in the press releases and news articles to construct the image of the same event. The thesis employs Entman’s concept of U.S. mediated public diplomacy when analyzing the framing process of two of the major actors presented in his model: the target nation media and the U.S. public and media diplomacy (U.S. officials in that country). Benoit’s model is used to better explain the press releases’ framing. Framing analysis was chosen as a qualitative research method, as this study aims to explore the images created by mass media or by public diplomacy efforts (through the press releases) when they construct a specific reality for the same public diplomacy crisis. Three major Romanian national, daily newspapers and the U.S. embassy’s press releases were analyzed. The findings revealed that the Romanian media framed the public diplomacy crisis in a different way than the U.S. officials framed it. It seems that the U.S. failed in promoting its framing of the public diplomacy crisis to the Romanian media and therefore the public.

Syfte: Projektet har som syfte att ta reda på hur fenomenet Rotationcuration har förändrat arbetet med Sverige som varumärke. Frågeställningar: Den övergripande frågeställningen som uppsatsen utgår ifrån är: Hur har rotationcuration förändrat arbetet med varumärket Sverige för VisitSweden? För att besvara huvudfrågeställningen på ett enklare sätt används ett flertal underfrågor vilket följer: Vilka strategier använder VisitSweden (VisitSweden.) sig av för att marknadsföra Sverige på Twitter? Vilken syn har VisitSweden. på Sociala medier? Hur ser varumärkesbyggandet ut på twitterkanalen @sweden när det kommer till varumärket Sverige? Hur användandet av kuratorer demokratiserat arbetet med projektet Curators of Sweden? Teori: De teorier som uppsatsen huvudsakligen utgår ifrån är Nations branding, Public diplomacy och Medialisering med tyngden på Public diplomacy. Förutom dessa har även teorier om Public relations och Publika sfären använts i viss mån. Metod: Uppsatsen är en fallstudie av Curators of Sweden. Inom ramen för fallstudien har vi bland annat granskat twitterkanalen @swedens nyhetsflöde, dokumentet Sverigebilden har undersökts och en intervju gjorts med VisitSwedens head of Social media. Resultat: Undersökningen visar på ett nyanserat sätt hur man genom en twitterkanal kan marknadsföra ett land som varumärke och hur man använder sig av ambasadörer för att lyckas. VisitSweden visar på hur man genom förberedelse och kontroll kan få all Public relations att bli bra Public relations. Man har genom att vara tidig in i mediet på ett inovativt sätt kunna bryta mark och skapa intresse, men har är kanske inte lika öppna som man kan tro vid första anblick trots användandet av kuratorer. / Purpose: The projects purpose it to find out if the mediation has changed the work with Sweden as a brand. Issues: The main question this paper is based on is: How has the modern medialization changed VisitSweden's work with Sweden's brand? To answer the main question in a simpler way we will be using several sub queries as follows: What strategies does VisitSweden use to brand Sweden on Twitter? What are VisitSweden’s views on Social Medias? What does the image building look like on the Twitter channel @sweden when it comes to the brand Sweden? How has the use of curators democratized the work on the project Curators of Sweden? Theory: The theories in the essay are based on Nation branding, Public Diplomacy and Medialization with the weight on Public Diplomacy. Besides these theories the essay includes the theories of Public Relations and Public sphere that will be used to some extent. Method: The paper has investigated the Twitter channel @sweden's news flow through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis. It will also analyse the document Sverigebilden using a qualitative content analysis and document analysis, in the end, a qualitative interview with VisitSweden's Head of Social Media. Results: The survey reveals a nuanced way to which a Twitter channel can promote a country as a brand and how to utilise spokespersons to make it happen. VisitSweden shows how, through preparation and monitoring, all Public Relations can become good Public Relations. By being an early adopter of the medium, VisitSweden have been able to create interest through innovation and breaking new ground. It has since implemented a well controlled project that supports the brand through the use of core values that have been set in advance.

Mediated public diplomacy plays an important role in attaining foreign policy objectives by communicating with foreign audiences in order to establish a dialogue intending to inform and influence. The Russian state-funded global network RT serves as an important tool of Russian mediated public diplomacy. Its purpose is not only to cover major global events that are often missed by the Western mainstream media, but also to apprise an international audience of an alternative pro-Russian perspective. Interestingly, although there are a few researches analysing Moscow's efforts to rebrand its international image in the last decade, there has been very little work done giving a good insight into Russian media. This dissertation seeks to participate in the discussion about public diplomacy in general by applying the framing theory as a tool of mediated diplomacy. A qualitative analysis of 97 articles discussing the effects of international sanctions imposed on Russia in the aftermath of the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, revealed a constructed pro-Russian narrative. Several strategies are pursued to convince its audience about the rightness of the Russian stance and gain support for the Kremlin's assertions. Finally, RT aims to wipe out the demonisation of Putin and its administration and counterbalance the penetration of the West in its sphere of influence.

Die professionalisierte Kommunikation komplexer Gebilde wie Staaten und Nationen, die ihre Hinwendung politischer Fragestellungen in die Sphären von Image und Einfluss verlegt, kommt vor dem Hintergrund wachsenden Wettbewerbs an der Bedeutung der Reputation nicht vorbei. Denn neben ihrer ökonomischen Bedeutung legitimiert Reputation als mittel- oder langfristiges öffentliches Ansehen, das ihren Trägern Definitions- und Überzeugungsmacht verschafft, Macht- und Herrschaftspositionen. In einer mediatisierten Gesellschaft wächst die Bedeutung der Kommunikation mit der Öffentlichkeit sowohl für Erwerb und Erhalt von Reputation – wie auch für deren Aberkennung. Dabei spielt eine zunehmende Skandalisierung als Eigenheit der Mediengesellschaft eine Rolle, die eine erhöhte Fragilisierung der Reputation zur Folge hat und als wirksamster Mechanismus bei der Aberkennung von Reputation gilt, wie das Beispiel der dänischen „Karikaturen-Affäre“ veranschaulicht. In einer kommunikativ schnelllebigen Welt, zunehmend frei verfügbarer Information, geistern durch die Außenministerien des Global Village Begriffe wie Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding, Country Branding oder Place Branding, deren gemeinsamer Nenner zunächst die nach außen gerichtete Kommunikation ist. Aber schon die Frage nach Absender und Adressat, nach Akteur und Rezipient, Botschaften und Zielgruppen verweist auf die Komplexität der Kommunikation eines Landes. Ziel der Untersuchung ist es in den Kommunikationsbemühungen von Ländern, Faktoren zu identifizieren, die Image und Reputation nachhaltig beeinflussen können. Dabei stehen die folgenden Fragen im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung: Wie werden Länder wahrgenommen und Reputation gebildet? Können die Bezugsgruppen eines Landes durch die Stakeholdertheorie (Freeman 1984) beschrieben werden – und wenn ja, welche Konsequenzen hat eine solche Berücksichtigung der Anspruchs- und Adressatengruppen auf die Kommunikation eines Landes? Welche Aspekte der theoretischen Ansätze können für die Kommunikation von Ländern als zentral bewertet werden? Und schließlich: Kann die Reflexion durch die Praxis, am Fallbeispiel der Schweiz, die Relevanz der eruierten Aspekte bestätigen bzw. um weitere Aspekte ergänzen und können auf dieser Grundlage Erfolgsfaktoren identifiziert und geeignete Instrumente für die Reputationskommunikation aufgezeigt werden? / A country’s reputation becomes essential, in the realm of growing global competition. The change of political paradigm towards image and influence leads to reputation as a kind of public prestige that procures power to its holders. Public communication becomes more and more essential in a media society: to gain reputation – and to keep reputation. Reputation is fragile, due to soaring scandalisation, as the case of the Danish „cartoon-afair“ demonstrates. In a world of rapid communication and ubiquitous information the notions of “Public Diplomacy” or “Nation- /Place Branding” are entering the departments of foreign affairs all over the world. Their common denominator is in the first instance the communication of a country abroad. But already asking about the different stakeholder and recipients, about sender and receiver, message or target group shows the high complexity of a country’s communication. The intention of the present research is to identify factors that are able to influence image and reputation within the communication efforts of a country.

This dissertation looks at U.S. public diplomacy practices in a country that until twenty years ago was controlled by a hard-line Communist regime: Romania. The study investigates the relationship management approach to public diplomacy employed by U.S. diplomats in Romania and it is the first to empirically test the application of relationship management theory of public relations to public diplomacy. Through in-depth interviews with six former U.S. diplomats who served in Romania during 2001-2009, we learn how diplomats must find various ways to build and maintain relationships with the civil society to which they are assigned. The findings reveal that U.S. diplomats’ main role in Romania was to engage in direct relationships with members of the civil society and facilitate bilateral relationships between members of the two countries. In addition, this study found a new role of diplomats abroad, that of building communities of like-minded people in the society in which they operate. This study expands the theoretical framework in public diplomacy by proposing two new models for public diplomacy practice. First, under the relational paradigm, this study establishes the goal of public diplomacy as the management of long-lasting relationships between members of two countries, with the aim to create hubs of networks in the countries of interest. Under the relational paradigm, the newly proposed model for the relationship management process provides an in-depth understanding of how U.S. diplomats engage with members of the Romanian civil society in order to accomplish the public diplomacy goal. Second, to better understand the uniqueness of the relationship management process between any two countries in the world, this dissertation proposes a framework of public diplomacy built on seven relational dimensions identified here as image, reputation, trust, credibility, communication, dialogue, and relationships. Testing the relationships management theory in public diplomacy is an important undertaking, which could broaden the scope of public diplomacy and can provide a framework for a comparative line of research between public diplomacy and public relations.

This thesis studies how NATO has changed the way it brands itself to Russia, from a cooperative and humanitarian stance in 2002 toward a critical and confrontational posture between 2006 and 2008. The study is based on a discourse analysis of NATO’s publications. In the political climate following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO’s NRC established a cooperative relationship with the new Russian Federation, which included offers of humanitarian aid in food and medical care. This study shows that under the NRC, from 2002 to 2006, NATO’s image toward Russia continued to be one of “Strategic Partner.” Between 2006 and 2008, the image NATO portrayed toward Russia reverted to confrontational. The analysis of NATO’s change can be understood by considering the definition of brand image: a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consists of all information and expectations associated with a product or service.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, we have seen a revival in American public diplomacy. I argue the U.S. continues to rely on similar rhetorical responses to crisis that are an essential part of American public diplomacy interconnected through history, from the birth of our country to the recent 2007 U.S. National Strategy for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication. Tracing this recurring rhetorical process from our founding to the Carter Administration illustrates our reliance on similar rhetoric despite changing contexts. I use Burke’s concept of identification and the interrelated use of ethos and enemy construction to demonstrate the rhetorical parallels between the Carter Administration’s 1979 Communication Plan with Muslim countries and the 2007 NSPDSC. This analysis not only contributes to the gap in public diplomacy research but provides insight into American public diplomacy since 9/11.

While discourse and rhetoric has always been a part of traditional diplomacy, rhetoric and communication theory has not enjoyed an active voice in the scholarship of foreign relations, and more specifically, public diplomacy. This project argues that a postmodern turn in public diplomacy was formalized in the State Department's 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) and that two specific directives laid out therein--to expand and strengthen relationships between individuals and steer the narrative--can find theoretical ground in communication scholarship. After examining the mid-to-late 20th century shift from specialized modern policy training to a rhetorical public diplomacy that views diplomats as generalists engaging members of varied, local publics, Pearce and Cronen's Coordinated Management of Meaning and the narrative work of Ricoeur, MacIntyre, Fisher, Arnett, and Arneson carve out a place for communication scholarship in the academic study of diplomacy and foreign relations. A case study of the State Department's community diplomacy initiatives in Northern Ireland are examined as a core tactic of what I call "public diplomacy 2.0"--postmodern public diplomacy attentive to rhetoric and communication. This work rests on the premise that philosophy of communication and rhetorical scholarship is central to good public diplomacy praxis in a postmodern world. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD; / Dissertation;