How China is positioning itself in Africa's media sector
Audio 25:12
Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Africa-China summit in Beijing, September 4, 2018. Lintao Zhang / Pool via REUTERS
By: Steven Jambot Follow |
Simon Decreuze Follow
28 min
China is more and more present in Africa.
In the economic field, of course, but also in the media sector.
Beijing deploys its radio, television and press agency on the continent and does not hesitate to intervene on the editorial line of African media.
Publicity
Selma Mihoubi
is the guest of the
Media Workshop
.
Doctor in geopolitics, she teaches at Sorbonne University.
His work focuses in particular on media influence strategies in West Africa.
She recently published on the site of the Media Review, the INA: When the Chinese media are exported to Africa.
In this program, it is about Radio Chine internationale (RCI), CGTN television (ex-CCTV) and the Xinhua agency (New China), Chinese media which are established on the African continent.
Selma Mihoubi explains that the deployment of these media is part of the Chinese geopolitical agenda aimed at having a local anchoring with a global aim.
Thus, with these
soft power
tools
, China is working on its representations on the African continent.
Beijing offers a positive discourse on its media in Africa that contrasts with the editorial offer of other foreign media such as the BBC, VOA or RFI.
But the latter are public service media whereas the Chinese media are state media.
This is why certain programs must sometimes be approved by the Chinese authorities before being broadcast on the air, explains Selma Mihoubi.
At the end of the program, it is about other emerging powers which are also positioned in the media sector in Africa, such as Russia and Turkey.
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