The number of ways that Chinese propaganda filters into mainstream African news coverage appear to be growing. In this case, the website for The Standard newspaper in Kenya published an article last week that appropriately labeled the article as “Sponsored Content” but never indicated who it was actually sponsored by (presumably Xinhua or the Chinese embassy in Nairobi).
Other Chinese content distribution methods in African media:
1. NEWS FEEDS: African newsrooms, like those everywhere, are struggling to keep their operations afloat due to increased advertising competition from Google & Facebook. So, it’s understandable when Xinhua approaches news outlets with the offer to get a FREE newswire why that would be compelling. Here’s an example on Kenya’s Daily Nation website:
2. NATIVE CONTENT: African media outlets are increasingly running Chinese-produced editorial and offering no indication whatsoever to the reader that the content was produced by a government-run media outlet and not the news publication. Sometimes, as in the case of this Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation story, Chinese-produced content is passed off as locally-generated news when it’s clearly not. Interestingly, the link to this story was removed shortly after our initial story was on the issue was published.
3. JOURNALIST JUNKETS: Every year the Chinese government sponsors hundreds of journalists on all-expense-paid trips to go to China. These junkets are presumably intended to be a form of capacity-building training opportunities but more often provide African news professionals with the chance to become better acquainted with China, Chinese people and Beijing’s worldview which often leads to more positive coverage when they return home. Here’s more information on this method.
