Media Mirroring, International Perception, and the Struggle for Historical Memory: How Media Coverage of the Nanjing Massacre Deeply Shaped International Relations

Abstract

The media dissemination of the Nanjing Massacre constitutes a seminal case in the study of international relations. Third-party media, through images and text, broke through information blockades, laying the foundation for global recognition of the atrocities; by contrast, perpetrator-state media employed narrative manipulation to delay historical reckoning and deepen cognitive rifts between nations. Drawing on original archives and empirical materials from the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre, this paper examines—through the three dimensions of fact construction, public opinion mobilization, and rule evolution—the “evidence chain–narrative framing–rule transformation” mechanism. It reveals how the media reshape national images, consolidate international consensus, reconstruct postwar order, and act as structural variables influencing Sino-Japanese relations and East Asian security cooperation. The study finds that the power of media in international relations hinges on balancing evidentiary authenticity and narrative ethics: when images and texts form a rigid mutual corroboration, they can drive the evolution of international humanitarian norms; conversely, they exacerbate cognitive fragmentation. Establishing a transnational mechanism for verifying historical authenticity is a critical pathway for addressing the challenges of “memory politics” and safeguarding stability in international relations in the digital era.