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This special section of China Media Research explores the trend towards visual online communication with a special focus on BRICS Countries. Online imagery nowadays plays a central role in the net environment and everyday life not only in Western countries. Among other aspects it creates a sense of belonging, relates to identity formation, expresses political vies and in extreme cases ideologies which is displayed in four single study articles in this special section. The final article concludes with trans-disciplinary views on De-Westernization and the future of visual online communication. The special section brings this timely and still rather novel topic to the forefront and questions the idea of the hegemony of Western-centered visual communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, contributions from scholars working in the field of visual communication and/or online communication are gathered whose scholarly work falls into the BRICS countries realm. The interviews are framed by a brief sketch of the relevance of BRICS countries research in communication and media studies and some prospective comments on this novel field. The contributing scholars in this issue focus on China and Brazil in particular and work across the globe in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, PR China, the UK and Brazil. They shared their ideas on the subject even though their scholarly roots lie in fields as diverse as regional studies, political studies, communication and media studies and educational studies. Their thoughts were collected through email interviews and they are presented here in form of a cross-disciplinary dialogue on the issue of visual online communication in BRICS countries and the De-Westernization discourse. Gratefulness goes out to all the ones who have contributed and hopefully this project will have a say in many future dialogues between scholars from across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]