Public Diplomacy in Prime Time: Exploring the Potential of Entertainment Education in International Public Diplomacy.

Abstract

Can stories succeed where traditional forms of diplomacy have faltered? This study examined whether a primetime drama could impact American viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with respect to U.S. foreign policy and funding by surveying 173 viewers of an episode of Law & Order: SVU ("Witness"). Additionally, this study sought to uncover which theoretical construct - involvement with a specific character or involvement with the narrative more generally (transportation) - best predicted impact. The fictional character in question was Nardelie, a woman forced to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after repeated rape by militias vying for "conflict minerals," so named because control of these valuable minerals has triggered numerous conflicts. Separate regression analyses suggested a positive relationship between impact of the storyline and both theoretical constructs. However, when both constructs were entered into a single regression, involvement with Nardelie was the stronger predictor of knowledge (e.g., conflict minerals, sexual violence, and asylum issues) and current or future behavior (i.e., discussing global health) while transportation was the stronger predictor of attitudes (i.e., support for aid). This suggests that, while correlated, these constructs do not completely overlap. Implications of these results and the use of entertainment education in public diplomacy are discussed.