Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies

Major Professor

Golfo Alexopoulos, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Ly Dinh, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Peter Funke, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Tatsiana Kulakevich, Ph.D.

Keywords

PRC, Public Diplomacy, Russia, US, VOA

Abstract

In the new digital era of geopolitics, competing great powers support internationally oriented state-sponsored media as integral parts of public diplomacy, seeking to reach foreign publics in an increasingly digital age of information sharing. Leveraging local outlets provides an avenue to influence local publics through pre-approved news. Targeted foreign news outlets actively engage with and re-share content from said media. This research focuses on foreign-originated content from the world’s great powers - the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America. The purpose of this project is to provide insight into how the great powers co-opt digital media environments in regions of national interest to establish influence.

This is the first comprehensive analysis project of foreign-originated content from Great Power media. The data for this project were collected by analyzing foreign-originated articles from the Great Powers that targeted the nations of the South Caucasus. Analysis focused on the re-shared narratives and identifying patterns and political agenda-setting efforts. Russia has decreasing influence in the region despite a strong focus on emotionally charged and destabilizing narratives. The US is unwilling to take advantage of this decrease, despite positive reception to US-originated news, and the PRC does not involve itself in the region content-wise. This analysis is designed to provide actionable insights for use by Western public diplomacy institutions that seek to understand the operations, reach, and appeal of specific state-sponsored outlets and to understand the nature of adversarial content. Results and analysis from this dissertation challenge de facto assumptions held about the region and theories on public diplomacy and underscore the significance of global media.

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