Media and Power: The Chinese Way with Gary Rawnsley

Gary Rawnsley discusses China’s growing ‘soft power’ and how television, journalism, the Internet and social media has, over the last decade, been used to expand the country's cultural influence

Story of the Global Communications Research Centre

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The Global Communications Research Centre (GCRC) is hosted by the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University. GCRC aims to develop a research culture oriented around global and strategic communications. It will build on existing research strengths and projects in the University while identifying other areas for investigation. At the same time, the expertise embedded in the Centre will make a strong contribution to the research outreach of other Centres hosted by Interpol, helping to strengthen the Department’s integrated research culture. Moreover, the GCRC will bring together colleagues from across the University with research interests in global and strategic communications to encourage an interdisciplinary perspective and research agenda. We will promote outreach as one of the Centre’s key responsibilities. Providing practical solutions to contemporary communication challenges, the Centre will engage routinely with policymakers in the UK and overseas. Our aim will be to separate myth from reality when assessing how new technologies affect communication power, and understanding how diplomats, the military, and the media may work better together and what they may learn from each other. In short, the CGRC will promote advanced and, where possible, applied research, support teaching, encourage an interdisciplinary research culture, and enhance understanding of global and strategic communications across the University and beyond.