The Internet is a space in which international relations is in part played out and visualised. This is similar to John Hartley’s (1992)concepts of the visualisation of the public via the media. In politics this is often communicated via the official photo, or joint media conference. In addition, the use of memes and videos and social media posts also form part of the visualisation of the way in which global politics is played out. In a sense this kind of interaction and representation is a nation talking to itself and the rest of the world. As Benedict Anderson (1991) argues the media is one of the ways in which the imagined community of the nation is conceived and I seek to extend this to the imagined global community, and I argue that narratives are fundamental to that imagining. This imagining extends beyond the official media sources and includes the content generated and shared across social media. This paper traces the narratives used in the visualisation of the relationship between China and USA around COVID 19 and both countries attempt to control the narratives about the virus. Using critical textual analysis of a broad range of sources that are representative of the mainstream media in the USA and official state media in the Peoples Republic (PRC) of China as well as social media posts from Facebook and Twitter that allows for an analysis that traces both the ways in which politicians interact with their base and with the international community.

Authors:
Kay Hearn, Edith Cowan University, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Kay Hearn is the Major Coordinator for Historical and Political Studies at Edith Cowan University. Her research looks a the intersection between popular culture and politics in China the ways the CCP has adapted to a changing media environment.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay-hearn

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kay-Hearn/research

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