Nationalizing Truth: Digital Practices and Influences of State-Affiliated Media in a Time of Global Pandemic and Geopolitical Decoupling

Authors

  • Weiai Wayne Xu Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Rui Wang Assistant Professor, Communication University of China

Keywords:

computational propaganda, state media, state-affiliated media, Facebook, social media

Abstract

This study explores Facebook-based state media accounts from various geopolitical players and focuses on three practices—content volume, intermedia agenda-setting/following, and coordinated sharing through networks of Facebook pages, groups, and verified public profiles. Findings suggest that Russian and Chinese state media are more active in content production than their global peers, yet with limited reach. Chinese state media stand out as both agenda-setters and followers: They inject distinct agendas into the global news flows while closely following agendas first covered by other global outlets. State media from all types of geopolitical players engage in inauthentic coordinated sharing, but with notable differences in the ideological composition of the mobilized Facebook networks: The Chinese coordinated-sharing network is homegrown and limited; the Russian network consists of right-leaning and counter-mainstream political groups worldwide, while the coordinated-sharing networks mobilized by the state media in the Middle East, Venezuela, and Western liberal democracies are left-leaning and human-rights focused.

Author Biographies

Weiai Wayne Xu, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Phone: +1(414)6883059Weiai Wayne Xu is currently an assistant professor in the department of communication at UMass-Amherst. His research lies at the intersection of communication and data science. He uses computational social science techniques to examine the role of technology in the flow of information, value, behaviors, and organizational resources while addressing the important issues of digital inequality, fragmentation, and disinformation. His scholarly writing has appeared in Computers in Human Behavior, American Behavioral Scientist, Social Networks, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Government Information Quarterly, and International Journal of Communication, among others. He is currently serving on the Editorial Board of Social Media + Society and is the managing editor of Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia.

Rui Wang, Assistant Professor, Communication University of China

Assistant Professor, Communication University of China

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Published

2022-01-01

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Articles

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