China and the changing geopolitics of global communication: BRICS and beyond

Daya Thussu
Professor of International Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University
President, IAMCR (International Association for Media and Communication Research)

ABSTRACT
The US-led Western nations and corporations have traditionally defined key conceptions of geopolitics and how it is communicated globally, given their domination of the hard and software of international media and communication systems. However, in recent decades, this is being challenged by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, notably China and Russia, and, to a lesser extent, by India. Such countries are developing competing narratives on global affairs including on debates surrounding a ‘democratic’ vs. an ‘authoritarian’ version of AI. Such contestations are beginning to undermine Western positions at a time when the West appears to be in decline. This talk, based on the speaker’s new book Changing Geopolitics of Global Communication analyses these changes within domains of digital infrastructure, commerce, and digital for development, supported by recent examples, to underscore the growing importance of communication in international relations.

BIO-NOTE
Daya Thussu is Professor of International Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). He was, for many years, Professor of International Communication at the University of Westminster in London. For the academic year 2018-2019, he was Distinguished Visiting Professor and Inaugural Disney Chair in Global Media at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing. Professor Thussu is the author or editor of 20 books, including International Communication - Continuity and Change, third edition (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) and, most recently, Changing Geopolitics of Global Communication (Routledge, 2024).

DEBATEDORES:
Cristina Rego Monteiro da Luz (UFRJ)
Pedro Aguiar (UFF)