Management of the media space: public information, Australian intervention and the Pacific

© 2011 Dr. Clare ShamierThis research explores media management practices as used in the context of foreign intervention and bilateral relations. In particular, the thesis provides an in-depth look at the ways in which global changes in transnational media and its structures since the end of the Cold War have had a spill-over effect on the ways in which Australia has acted as a regional ‘superpower’ in the Pacific. As Australia has in recent years increasingly placed media structures and management at the forefront of bilateral government negotiations and public diplomacy in the region, the primary focus of this research is on the role of the Australian government, and in particular the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in the development, promotion and use of the media for foreign policy objectives. This research also examines with a governmentality framework the links between development security and the media. Through this framework, it explores how processes of continued globalisation of liberal economic markets, the relationships between government agencies, NGOs and the media have strengthened and continue to grow increasingly outside of the traditional boundaries of promotion of aid delivery and humanitarian assistance programs