Speaking to students on ‘Public Diplomacy, a New Tool for Dubai’, Dr. Ernest J. Wilson III, Dean and Walther H. Annenberg Chair in Communication, at the University of Southern California, said that the emirate should continue to build a strong regional base so global media can tell their stories.

This, he said, could happen through public diplomacy activities like ministries and alliances with business and civic society. He said that many around the world were turning to public diplomacy ‘as one of the response to the spread of new communications technologies in the hands of more educated public’.

Citing the fact that the emirate already hosts more than 1500 media companies, Dr Wilson also urged the emirate to speak out its success and share its ‘can do’ story with others.

“Dubai and the rest of the world are facing new and challenging conditions as well as tremendous opportunities. These include globalisation, information revolution, economic uncertainty, strategic shifts in world power and the spread of education and democracy,” noted the professor.

Media and governments need new sets of communication skills, professionalism and a re-commitment to ethics and the well being of society, he observed. 

Ali M. Jaber, Dean of The Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Communication, and AUD faculty, administrative bodies and students were present at the event.

AUD and the University of Southern California have an academic collaboration embodied in the establishment of The MBR School of Communication at AUD.

The American delegation also toured the different facilities and labs on campus.

preeti@khaleejtimes.com