Content and frames of ©WeChat and Chinese state media - a critical literacy reflection of the narratives during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic

Governments back disruptive politics on the Internet platforms to influence people. During the global health crisis, because of the popularity and demographic penetration, ©WeChat is said to be one of these platforms. The influential dynamics, the circulated contents relevant to diasporic audiences and the app’s global users are yet to be contextually understood through the educational lens of critical literacy. This study is underpinned by a critical literacy reflective framework which synthesises components from several critical literacy practices: content and frame analysis, critical pedagogies, and specific literacy domain practices to provide guideline for the investigation. The findings demonstrate how state affiliated media (SAM) utilised a global public health crisis to serve the Chinese government’s ideological agenda, and how some of the narratives had entered the ©WeChat sphere which expedited its outreach among the diasporic subjects while the critical literacy struggles are at the stake of their identificatory pursuit in the host country. The author’s reflection of the situation explores required intervention to counter such ideological influence and to contextualise the challenges co-confronted by the institutions and the diasporic community. It concludes that new pedagogical adjustments are needed to respond to the critical democratic and literacy demands in a post COVID-19 world