Chinese Media in Africa: Between Promise and Reality

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between journalism in Africa and foreign investment in the African media space through an analysis of newsroom practices and the power relations that inform such practices in Chinese media organisations based in Africa. It illustrates the discrepancies between China's promise of mutuality and equality and the lived experiences of African journalists working in Chinese media organisations such as CGTN, Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper. The article draws on the routine and organisation levels of Shoemaker and Reese's hierarchy of influences model and interviews with African journalists working in the three Chinese media organisations based in Nairobi, Kenya. The findings indicate that an African and a Chinese level of gatekeeping and journalistic agency exist within Chinese media organisations based in Africa. Even though these levels co-exist, the Chinese levels are dominant over the African.