In an era when diplomacy unfolds in real-time online, how are global leaders navigating the challenges and opportunities of digital engagement? Join the Pacific Council on May 12 at 9 AM PT  for an exciting conversation with our expert panel, Michael Karanicolas, Associate Professor of Law at Dalhousie University, and Karen North, Clinical Professor of Communication at USC, and Scott Kraft, editor at large for enterprise and investigative journalism at the Los Angeles Times, who will explore how digital media is reshaping civic life and diplomatic strategies.

Why It’s Important: 

• Digital platforms have democratized diplomatic engagement, allowing smaller nations and non-state actors to amplify their voices and influence international discourse beyond their traditional geopolitical weight. 
• Leading tech companies and international organizations continue to grapple with issues surrounding data security and free markets; the European Union’s 2022 Digital Market Act has recently been cited against Google and Apple. 
• Recent years have seen world leaders like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy use digital spaces to lobby allies and adversaries for aid and support during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 
• Complex state-sponsored disinformation operations that target diplomatic initiatives and international relationships are growing, requiring new resilience strategies and digital literacy. 
• Online tools have blurred the lines between official and personal diplomatic communication, with individual diplomats building personal brands and followings that sometimes diverge from formal or state-endorsed positions.

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.

Guest Speaker

Michael Karanicolas is an Associate Professor of Law and the James S. Palmer Chair in Public Policy & Law at Dalhousie University. Previously, he served as the inaugural Executive Director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and as the Wikimedia Fellow at Yale Information Society Project, where he remains an affiliated fellow. 

Prior to his academic career, Michael spent a decade as a human rights advocate, where he worked to develop legal frameworks supporting foundational rights for democracy. His research encompasses a number of thematic areas, but generally revolves around the intersection of new technologies with democracy and human rights. 

Michael has a B.A. (Hons.) from Queen's University, an LL.B. from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, and an LL.M. from the University of Toronto. You can follow him on Bluesky at karanicolas.bsky.social.

Guest Speaker

Karen North, PhD, is a recognized expert in digital social media and in psychology. She is the founder and former director of USC Annenberg’s Digital Social Media (MS) program, and a clinical professor in the school of communication focusing on digital and social media, business and product strategy, privacy and safety online, and brand building and reputation management. In 2006, North created the Digital Social Media (MS) program (formerly, Annenberg Program on Online Communities), the world’s first master’s degree program and research center focused on the leadership and management of social media and online communities.

Trained as a clinical and social psychologist and with considerable work experience in telecommunications policy and practice, North’s interests come together in the digital world where entrepreneurs and large companies seem most focused on using social and digital media to bring people together, form groups online, and exert influence. North teaches these concepts and skills and works with small and large companies, foreign and domestic governments, and individuals in this sector. Prior to building USC’s digital social media program, North was the assistant dean of the UCLA School of Public Policy. She previously worked in the Clinton Administration in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and before that she worked for Rep. Edward Markey, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.

Moderator 

Scott Kraft is senior vice president and editor at large for enterprise and investigative journalism and special projects at the Los Angeles Times, where he oversees newsroom-wide reporting initiatives and standards and practices. During nearly four decades at The Times, Kraft has been managing editor, deputy managing editor/news and national editor, as well as a foreign and national correspondent.

As an editor, he has directed work that won nine Pulitzer Prizes. As a reporter, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing while a New York-based national correspondent for the Associated Press before joining The Times in its Chicago bureau. He spent a decade abroad as The Times’ bureau chief in Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Paris. He covered the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid as well as the ill-fated U.S. military mission in Somalia, among other major stories. His story for the Los Angeles Times magazine on the AIDS epidemic in Africa won the SPJ Distinguished Service Award for Foreign Correspondence.

He has served as both a juror and chair of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. He was also a Pulitzer Prize juror in international reporting in 2014 and subsequently chaired five Pulitzer juries – Public Service in 2015, International Reporting in 2020, Explanatory Reporting in 2021, Illustrated Reporting and Commentary in 2022, and Editorial Writing in 2023. He is currently president of the Overseas Press Club of America. Kraft was born in Kansas City, Mo., and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Kansas State University.

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.