Toward a Translational News Ecology: Covering the 2022 Australian Federal Election on WeChat

Abstract

This article examines the coverage of the 2022 Australian federal election on WeChat for Australian audiences. We analyzed 3,462 public articles collected from May 2021 to May 2022 from 135 WeChat news services called WeChat Official Accounts (with 99 still active at the time of this analysis). We found that diasporic Chinese media accounts had a more prominent role in shaping online discourses compared with China-based media accounts, Australia-based business accounts, and Australian politicians’ accounts. In reporting the 2022 Australian federal election, COVID-19 policies, the economy, immigration, and international relations, with particular regard to Australia–China relations, were common themes. Our findings reveal the formation of a “translational news ecology” that bridges diasporic media to Australia’s English-speaking, mainstream public sphere, which is primarily shaped by Australian national media and politicians. Notably, for future regulation of election media, we witness domestic political actors featuring paid advertisements or direct contributions on influential news service accounts, including instances of misinformation sitting in a lacuna of active regulation from both Australian and Chinese states in managing platform content and labor in this space.