RETHINKING MEDIA DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT: DIGITAL MEDIA DIPLOMACY

Modern digital media have enabled the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to talk to foreign
parliaments while his country is at war. Zelensky’s virtual communications are not aimed at enhancing Ukraine’s
international image, as in traditional forms of public diplomacy; rather, they seek to obtain military assistance and
reach a mutually beneficial outcome for his country. These, however, are activities of media diplomacy, a concept
that scholars have abandoned over the last two decades in favour of public diplomacy. Through a critical review, this
study examines the division between these concepts and other related concepts and analyses the role of the media in
international communications, including those in times of war. The widespread use of technology and social media,
as well as the specific diplomatic communications that have allowed Zelensky to talk to the world, have led to the
conclusion that the current concepts of media diplomacy, public diplomacy, and digital diplomacy are not appropriate
in the current circumstances. Therefore, a new concept is proposed: digital media diplomacy.