Los medios de comunicación digital en la dinámica reciente de la diplomacia pública colombiana y la seguridad nacional en los gobiernos Uribe y Santos

Abstract

The use of media as a tool of foreign policy in Colombia has been studied from an essentially instrumental perspective, that is, as a mere channel for the broadcasting of a message. Nevertheless, that kind of exercise handles a lot of interesting attributes worthy of being analyzed. The role of the media, and especially, of the digital media, starts with an approach between the general society and the alien, misunderstood and abstract international environment. On the other hand, it also has the power to shape public opinion in the face of short-term, controversial or high political repercussions. Digital media have positioned themselves as an additional tacit scenario for the exercise of foreign policy through public diplomacy that has the purpose of communicating; weaving alliances to, in the final analysis, achieve a greater influence in the global scene. (Ruiz, 2014, page 7). In this sense, public diplomacy is leveraged in media innovations and imposes challenges to the traditional channels of the exercise of foreign policy, and affects contexts of high sensitivity such as national security, integration trends, and international insertion. This paper seeks to categorize the role of digital media in the public diplomacy and national security during the Alvaro Uribe and Juan Manuel Santos’ governments.