The true public diplomacy that the United States practices should rely not only on political theories and international relations theories, but also on public relations theories focused on two-way symmetrical communication and community building (Kruckeberg & Vujnovic, 2005, p. 296). A propa-ganda worldview centers the United States at the hub of its communication and relationships that radiates outward to the rest of the world; in contrast, a public relations or community-building model situates America as part of the global social system that recognizes other nations as constituents or publics it needs to engage and cultivate long-term trusting relationships with (Krucke-berg & Vujnovic, 2005, p. 296).
scope of the audiences for public diplomacy programs is much broader than before (Wang, 2006). If public diplomacy is about cultivating relationships and negotiating understanding with different nations, organizations, groups, and individual human beings, it is important for us to develop ethical grounds for communication with every single one of them and take into consideration cultural nuances.
The third implication for research and practices is that government is no longer the only sponsor category for public diplomacy programs (with more and more nongovernmental, transgovernmental organizations, and multinationals leading public diplomacy programs). For example, in late 2003 through 2004, the Saudi American Exchange conducted an exchange program (as an example of applied, grassroots public diplomacy) aiming to promote intercultural communication between Arab and U.S. gradu-ate and undergradugradu-ate students (Hayden, 2009, p. 533). More studies are needed to examine the ethical dilemmas that these types of actors face in conducting their public diplomacy programs. Moreover, the credibility and trustworthiness of governments, as the primary sponsor or communicator of public diplomacy, are very often suspect because publics tend to perceive a government’s public diplomacy programs as manipulative propaganda (Wang, 2006). Therefore, public diplomacy researchers and practitioners face the challenge to redefine the ethical and socially responsible role of a sponsoring organization.
The final research implication relates to new communication technologies (social media) and ethical diplomacy (Milam & Avery, 2012; Wang, 2006).
More research is needed to study whether the prevalent combination of mass media (along with social media) and personal communication behaviors, such as cultural and educational exchanges in public diplomacy is sufficient now (Brookings Institution, 2004). This paves a fertile ground for future schol-arship about the role of new communication technologies (Internet, social media, and so on) in public diplomacy, especially for those public diplomacy programs targeted to the younger global publics (Wang, 2006). For instance, in 2010 the U.S. State Department funded an “Apps4Africa” contest to pro-mote the development of “socially conscious mobile applications” for Africa, which marked a significant new adventure for public diplomacy efforts (Mi-lam & Avery, 2012, p. 328). Now, there is a glaring absence of scholarship studying the insights that new communication technologies may shed on eth-ical visions for public diplomacy.
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