Diplomacy and its institutions have been constantly changing. The manner in which diplomacy was practised in the earlier centuries is vastly different from how it is being practised in the twenty-first century. These changes range from the emergence of the training of messengers, the start of record keeping of diplomatic exchanges, the establishment of resident embassies, codification of formal diplomatic processes, widening domain of actors and issues, the use of multilateral conferences, use of summitry and many others. This evolution has been both a result of and further resulted in changing the larger socio-political-economic dimensions that the world has undergone. Among the myriad contextual changes, the revolution in communications, information and media technology has been phenomenal. This has brought into focus terms like the CNN effect and Vietnam War Syndrome where it is argued that media has had an influence in directing foreign policy choices of countries. Hence, this article seeks to analyse the media’s interface with the most important institution of diplomacy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It specifically focuses on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India. Has the news media acted either as an impediment or an accelerator to diplomatic practice? Has the information overload caused the diplomatic fraternity to face a loss of autonomy in any manner? With the objective of seeking an answer to these questions from diplomacy’s perspective, the article explores the evolution of the External Publicity Division of the MEA, India. The External Publicity Division as it is generally known has been the nodal division leading the institutions’ interface with the media. The actuality of media’s interface with diplomacy in India’s case will be set in the backdrop of the existing literature in the fields of media, diplomacy and foreign policy.

中文翻译：

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印度媒体与外交的互动

外交及其机构一直在不断变化。前几个世纪的外交实践方式与二十一世纪的实践方式有很大不同。这些变化包括信使培训的出现、外交交往记录的开始、常驻大使馆的设立、正式外交程序的编纂、行为者和问题范围的扩大、多边会议的使用、首脑会议和好多其它的。这种演变既是世界所经历的更大的社会政治经济维度变化的结果，又进一步导致了变化。在无数的背景变化中，通信、信息和媒体技术的革命是引人注目的。这使得诸如 CNN 效应和越南战争综合症这样的术语成为焦点，人们认为媒体在指导各国的外交政策选择方面具有影响力。因此，本文试图分析媒体与最重要的外交机构外交部的互动。它特别关注印度外交部 (MEA)。新闻媒体是外交实践的障碍还是加速器？信息超载是否导致外交界面临任何形式的自主权丧失？为了从外交的角度寻求这些问题的答案，本文探讨了印度外交部对外宣传部的演变。众所周知，对外宣传部是领导机构与媒体互动的节点部门。印度案例中媒体与外交互动的现实将在媒体、外交和外交政策领域现有文献的背景下进行阐述。