Intermap

Welcome to Intermap.org! For those familiar with this URL - the previous incarnation of this website was a repository for reports and analysis of Arab media. Now - this site has been refashioned as a blog dedicated to the coverage of issues related to public diplomacy, global media, and international politics. This blog joins a burgeoning community of scholars, journalists, analysts, and policy-makers who contribute daily to the informed discussion of public diplomacy and strategic communication. We hope to add our own voice to this conversation - by bringing our own research perspective on international media, rhetoric, and communication studies to bear on this arguably interdisciplinary and salient topic. For a more wordy summary of this blog’s “mission” - see our “about” page.

Is this an academic blog? Only in the sense that we aim to incorporate the insights from our own training and professional endeavors. This blog aims to be both informed and current - drawing on academic, journalistic, and of course, blogging resources to make our own observations and claims.

The name, in fact, tells a lot about what this blog is about. Our focus on media argument reflects our attention to the content, context, and form of messages, strategies, and policies that make up public diplomacy and international communication. In the process, we hope to synthesize new perspectives on public diplomacy from the community of public diplomacy analysts/observers and from research on political communication, rhetoric, and media studies. Sounds like a tall order - but this subject has already attracted the attention of a diverse group, including (but certainly not limited to) historians, organizational communication scholars, and marketing/branding specialists. In the process, we hope to provide a modest contribution and, to borrow a phrase from the Broadcast Board of Governors, “Move the needle” on public diplomacy discourse.

So Hello Internets!