"Does China's multimodal engagement with African media promote decolonization or its media propaganda? Drawing on copious interviews with journalists from across the continent, and complementing these with detailed analyses of stories reported in ways that serve the narratives and interests of the C ... hinese Communist Party, Emeka Umejei explores this question through China's ever-growing expansion of training, content-sharing, and formal media coordination initiatives across Africa. He maps these initiatives in the context of changing media economics in Africa, showing how they make strategic use of material constraints on the African side to expand China's footprint in the African media market. What Umejei finds is that the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly complementing state-led media campaigns such as the Belt and Road News Network and Belt and Road News Alliance with more local strategies, building alliances with local media organisations and co-opting critical actors in the African media ecosystem." (Publisher description) more

"This study examines how journalists in four African countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa) perceive and utilise AI tools in news production. The study draws on “imagined affordance” as a theoretical framework and semi-structured interviews with journalists in the four countries. Th ... e main research questions were: (i). what are journalists’ experiences of AI use in news production in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria? (ii). How has the use of AI tools facilitated or constrained journalists in news production? (iii). What are the ethical dilemmas journalists in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa face in news production when they use AI tools in their work, and how have these been negotiated? The sampling criteria involved purposive and snowball sampling to select full-time and freelance journalists and editors. Participants needed to have knowledge of new media and AI use in their work or newsrooms. The findings suggest that African journalists perceive the utilisation of AI tools in news production through a framework of optimism, pessimism, and pragmatism, with an eclectic mix of these perspectives in actual news production processes across the four countries. This approach provides a holistic framework for understanding how African journalists appropriate AI tools in news production." (Abstract) more

"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." (Abstract) more