This article reviews three critical analytical discourses that are wrestling with the Euro-American historic bias in international communication. The de-Westernisation discourse is perhaps one that ...has been most prevalent. To also deconcentrate Western biases, the "internationalisation" perspective argues that the field of international communication still needs to be truly "internationalised." The article advances that there is another Western-centricity critiquing perspective-the decoloniality school of thought-that warrants a fully-fledged adoption and application as a third perspective. Together, the three disquisitions not only hold the potential to dismantle the Euro-American historical leanings evident in the field, but they also offer an opportunity to refresh international communication theory and research practice with new, alternative non-Western offerings, especially from the Global South.
In the context of dominance of Eurocentricity in social science, some scholars call for enquiry into international communication (IC) from an Asian perspective that is invested in abundant cultural ...heritage with which complementary contributions have been made to IC as an interdisciplinary field derived from Western social theory. This article tries to map the updated topics, trends and patterns of Asian IC research and assay the impetus behind its shaping. This is done through reviewing the key relevant research outputs about Asian IC by Asian IC scholars, including from within Asian diaspora as in the West. The aim is to illustrate the landscape of Asian IC research, including the Asian values that scholars have sorted out, the patterns of Asian scholarly contribution to the Western originated research foci, and the challenges facing the scholarly development of IC research with an Asian perspective. A prospect of the future research direction is provided in the end.
The habits of Arab audiences in using media and the development logic of the media industry in the Arab world have undergone major changes in light of the rapid development of information technology, ...and integrated development between traditional and modern media has become a general trend and a key in international media competitions between world powers. China’s international communication to the Arab world must actively respond to this change. On the one hand, we must understand and strengthen the importance and urgency of international communication to the Arab world from the strategic height of the rise of a great power. On the other hand, we must make efforts at the tactical level by meeting users’ requirements, focusing on the contents, and applying technological innovation.
This study contributes to international news flow literature methodologically, by significantly expanding its scope, and theoretically, by incorporating intermedia agenda‐setting theory, through ...which we reveal how news media in different countries influence each other in covering international news. With a big data analysis of 4,708 online news sources from 67 countries in 2015, the study shows that wealthier countries not only continue to attract most of the world news attention, they are also more likely to decide how other countries perceive the world. However, international news flow is not as hierarchical and U.S.‐centric as found earlier. Online‐only, emerging media in core countries are not necessarily more impactful in setting the world news agenda than those in (semi)peripheral countries.
This article examined how social media content has shaped the representation of countries for publics around the world. Based on world system theory, the study investigated the underlying predictors ...of country mentions on X (formerly Twitter) in 2018. It confirmed that countries with greater economic power – or higher status in the world system – received more mentions. Furthermore, countries with larger populations were mentioned more frequently as were countries that experienced major conflicts. The findings from structural equation modeling shed new light on the interrelationships that drive the social media representation of individual countries and delineated an integrated Model of Country Mentions on X. These findings have implications for global leaders, policymakers, and social media firms.
In the post-epidemic era, international students are standing in the communication intersection of the Global South. Through interviews with 15 international students from developing countries, this ...paper finds that with the deepening of polymedia use during epidemic, the image of China in the media use of international students has changed and contains new energy for international communication. Firstly, in terms of media use, “from straying to breaking the wall”. There is no significant change in the platform of international students’ use of polymedia, but the demand for life information and comparison among media have increased significantly. Secondly, in terms of national image acceptance, “from information to action”. Even facing the stigmatization of China, international students’ reliance on Chinese local media still has been increasing during this period especially after the comparison between Western social media reports and their local experiences, while professional media image and concrete government actions are key factors. Thirdly, the role of individuals in the communication of the Global South goes “from nodes to windows”. International students using polymedia gradually convey China’s national image to the outside world through a cross-platform approach dismantling the incorrect frames after frames’ competition, generating the radiation effect of international communication from individuals, and driving the communication and correction of the international image within a limited scope.
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