On May 24th, IICRR and Institute for Future Media and Journalism (FuJo) hosted Professor Philip Seib for a talk on the changing role of journalism and public diplomacy. Philip is a Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy and Professor of International Relations at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

His books include: Headline Diplomacy: How News Coverage Affects Foreign Policy; The Global Journalist: News and Conscience in a World of Conflict; Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War; Beyond the Front Lines: How the News Media Cover a World Shaped by War; New Media and the Middle East (2007); The Al Jazeera Effect (2008); Toward a New Public Diplomacy: Redirecting U.S. Foreign Policy (2009); Real-Time Diplomacy: Politics and Power in the Social Media Era (2012); and The Future of Diplomacy (2016). Seib is also the editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication, co-editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy and co-editor of the journal Media, War and Conflict, published by Sage.

In his talk, he discussed the nature of online information sharing where “the line between the democratic and the anarchic is unclear”. This talk was particularly timely given the current political media climate and gave to both students and scholars of journalism, politics and international relations alike.