The Center is currently pursuing a broad agenda of research and scholarship, conducting empirical research and developing new theories and models for effective action in the field of public diplomacy. The following research projects are currently underway.

Formally launched initiatives include:

Media Framing in the Middle East
This project examines the scope of public argument in multiple case studies of Arab media coverage of the Unites States.

Alhurra TV Research Project
Alhurra TV Research Project is a year-long effort evaluating Alhurra TV's news and topical programming. Established in 2004, Alhurra TV is the broadcasting arm of the U.S. government-funded Broadcasting Board of Governors and broadcasts news, talk shows, entertainment and cultural programming throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

Al Jazeera English Research Project
In collaboration with Queens University of Charlotte this project involves audience and organizational analysis to evaluate the conciliatory potential of Al-Jazeera English (AJE).

Click to read the project's final report, Mediating Conflict: Al-Jazeera English and the Possibility of a Conciliatory Media.

Principal Investigators: Shawn Powers; Mohammed el-Nawawy
Sponsor: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

AFRICOM: The American Military and Public Diplomacy in Africa
In February 2008, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School co-hosted a conference on the public diplomacy impact of AFRICOM. The proceedings of this conference will be published soon. In addition, the Center maintains an active Media Monitor that follows international media coverage of the U.S. military command.

Smart Power
The purpose of this project is to develop a new approach to national power that allows senior policy makers to better integrate the assets and tools of coercive power such as military action (“hard power”), with the resources of traditional and public diplomacy (“soft power”).

Principal Investigator: Ernest James Wilson III