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Photographs as Instruments of Public Diplomacy: China's Visual Storytelling during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
- Source :
- Hague Journal of Diplomacy; Apr2022, Vol. 17 Issue 2, p177-215, 39p
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Summary: This article explores the effectiveness of photographs as instruments of public diplomacy through an analysis of China's visual storytelling during the Covid-19 outbreak. Beijing considered the pandemic an existential threat to its image and responded with a communications offensive that was designed to highlight the regime's success in containing the Coronavirus — both at home and abroad — and to safeguard the wider 'China story' of a 'peace-loving and responsible global leader'. By combining scholarship on public diplomacy and strategic narratives with the 'visual turn' literature in international relations, this article focuses on the non-verbal dimension of China's storytelling and explores the impact of photographs — distributed by the regime's news agency, Xinhua — on international public opinion. Through a survey experiment among 1,000 US adults, we demonstrate that such photographs had a positive effect on China's international image, but that this effect was moderated by levels of political knowledge among the target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 18711901
- Volume :
- 17
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Hague Journal of Diplomacy
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 156271246
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-bja10097