ABSTRACT
The revolution in information and communications technology has had four main effects on the conduct of diplomacy. First, the transboundary effect of information technology has modified the relation between distance and time. Previously remote issues and conflicts are brought to global attention, though that focus is shaped by the demands of immediacy (breaking news), global media geopolitical preferences and commercial cultural imperatives. Real-time images of civil conflict are graphically captured on mobile phones, transmitted globally; mobile satellite television camera technology tracks and relays interviews and military operations from previously inaccessible locations. Second, media focus on an issue is not necessarily constant, although it has had the effect of altering the tempo or pace of some diplomacy and reducing or removing the effects of distance.
