Abstract

Thanks to the ability of reproducing and diffusing symbolic messages and categories of meaning, mass media are the main source of the cultural/ideological power; TV and radio are the most important arenas for the international debate, where a competition between dominant world's views is taking place. The starting point of this paper is that at the international level there is a rising attention towards the use of public diplomacy instruments towards the Middle East, especially TV. The methodology is a collection of data regarding international TV broadcasts in Arabic. Empirical evidence shows a broad and rich panorama but at the same time several doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of such experiments. The main goal of this study is to understand whether a globalized political communication may guarantee a positive discussion between varieties of viewpoints or rather it is destined to be only a propaganda mouthpiece.