"Chinas Streben nach weltweiter medialer Dominanz und Diskursmacht ist eine konkrete Gefahr für demokratische Länder. Wenn sich Demokratien dem nicht widersetzen, werden chinesische Bürgerinnen und Bürger jegliche Hoffnung auf Pressefreiheit im eigenen Land verlieren und der Journalismus, wie wi
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r ihn kennen, wird künftig mit chinesischer Propaganda konkurrieren. Auch in Deutschland gibt es Beispiele dafür, wie China versucht, die Medienberichterstattung im eigenen Sinne zu beeinflussen, etwa durch Medienkooperationen, gemeinsame Sendungen oder China-freundliche Beilagen in Zeitungen. Auch die chinesische Botschaft in Deutschland kommentiert und kritisiert auf ihrer Webseite immer wieder deutsche Medienberichte. Im zweiten Kapitel werden vor diesen Erfahrungen verschiedene Kooperationsformen typologisiert sowie Empfehlungen an Journalistinnen, Journalisten und Medienhäuser ausgesprochen, inwieweit und unter welchen Voraussetzungen Kooperationen möglich sein könnten. Eine Gefahr - bei allen Kooperationstypen und auch allgemein in der Berichterstattung - ist die unkritische Übernahme von chinesischen Narrativen. Daher soll das dritte Kapitel für Argumente und Deutungsrahmen (sog. Frames), die für chinesische Propaganda kennzeichnend sind, sensibilisieren und alternative Darstellungen und Argumentationen anbieten. Denn ausländische Medien spielen eine wichtige Rolle dabei, Propagandainhalte zu verbreiten - eine Methode, die in Peking einen eigenen Namen hat: "ein Boot leihen, um auf den Ozean hinauszufahren". Chinas Vorhaben könnte dazu führen, dass sich teils auch subtile Narrative und ein bestimmtes, dem chinesischen Regime wohlwollendes Vokabular verbreiten und durchsetzen kann." (Seite 3-4)
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"This report provides a framework for understanding China's discourse-power ambitions [...], the strategy China has developed to achieve them, and an initial assessment of the successes and limitations of these efforts to date. The report begins by tracing the evolution of China's conception of disc
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ourse power, from China's period of reform and opening in 1978 to the current era under President Xi Jinping. The next section takes a closer look at how the party-state has been restructured, in part, to help operationalize China's goals to gain "the power to speak" and "the power to be heard." The third section focuses on China's strategy for gaining discourse power by centering itself in the ecosystem of global connectivity. This strategy includes gaining the "power to speak" by using social and digital media platforms to shape local information environments in its favor. It also includes gaining the "power to be heard" by promoting the CCPapproved norm of "cyber sovereignty". Lastly, this report provides a brief assessment of both the successes and limitations of China's discourse-power operations." (Introduction, page 4)
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"This paper explores how Beijing and its proxies have sought to alter this state of affairs through a more localized strategy. By adapting to the local rules of Turkish media and seeking new opportunities to elevate China’s image, Beijing has sought to establish a new synergy in Turkey’s public
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sphere. Promoting a synergy with local players has begun to pay dividends as most recent Turkish opinion polls reflect a gradual increase in the number of Turkish citizens who perceive China as a potential partner." (Introduction)
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"For months, our team has been tracking how China has exploited search engine results on Xinjiang and COVID-19, two subjects that are geopolitically salient to Beijing — Xinjiang, because the Chinese government seeks to push back on condemnation of its rights record; COVID-19, because it seeks to
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deflect criticism for its early mishandling o f the pandemic. In both cases, Beijing is quite focused on positioning itself as a responsible global leader and softening perceptions to the contrary. To evaluate these concerns, we compiled daily data over a 120-day period on 12 terms related to Xinjiang and COVID-19 from five different sources: (1) Google Search; (2) Google News; (3) Bing Search; (4) Bing News; and (5) YouTube. We found that Chinese state media are remarkably effective at influencing the content returned for the term “Xinjiang” across several search types. “Xinjiang,” which is among the most neutral terms in our data set, regularly returned state-backed content across news searches, with at least one Chinese state-backed news outlet appearing in the top 10 results in 88% of searches (106 out of 120 days searched). On YouTube, state media appeared among the top 10 results in searches for “Xinjiang” in 98% of searches (118 out of 120 days searched) [...]" (Executive summary)
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"This paper measures how often audiences in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa consume Chinese media, and investigates whether a positive relationship exists between the consumption of English language Chinese media and attitudes towards China. Method: We analyze three waves of survey data collected in
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2017/2018, 2020 and 2021 (N = 5876) in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Findings: We show that, while Chinese State-owned news media have a growing but limited following, the minority of media users who report getting news from Chinese media have better attitudes towards China than those who don’t. Implications: Our findings suggest that Beijing’s external communication activities might have the potential to fulfil Beijing’s goal of improving the country’s image overseas, provided that media reached a wider audience." (Abstract)
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"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long sought to influence media coverage about China in other countries. Over the past decade, this campaign has accelerated, reaching new world regions and topics. This article examines how CCP-linked actors seek to manipulate foreign information environments i
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n four key ways: disseminating propaganda, spreading disinformation, censoring critical coverage, and controlling the infrastructure used to convey news. This article considers which efforts have yielded gains for the regime, obstacles that Beijing has encountered, and the response of nongovernmental actors. It concludes by considering how to enhance democratic resilience to the covert and coercive dimensions of the CCP’s global media influence." (Abstract)
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"This report highlights an emerging and continuously developing Chinese state information capability in Solomon Islands. That capability can be deployed to support the CCP’s objectives, which include undermining Solomon Islands’ existing relationships with foreign partners, particularly Australi
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a and the US. Local media outlets have the highest level of online penetration and engagement in Solomon Islands. CCP official-led articles published in local media—including opinion pieces, press releases and other quote-based articles—are the most effective method of propagating CCP narratives in Solomon Islands’ online information environment. Party-state media articles produced by outlets such as the Global Times and the People’s Daily, although useful in highlighting CCP narratives, had little impact on and penetration into the Solomon Islands’ online information environment. They were rarely shared in public Facebook groups and, when they were shared, received mostly anti-China comments in response. Unlike CCP media releases and editorials published in local media, party-state media articles were rarely republished by local media outlets, which favoured content from Western media sources independent of state control, such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation." (Key takeaways, page 5)
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"In recent years, China’s playbook for expanding influence under the banner of “common destiny” is well known, with tactics ranging from ‘soft power’ incentive structures to ‘wolf warrior’ diplomatic brawls played out on the front pages of local newspapers. But how consistent is China
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s approach, especially against the backdrop of two years of pandemic disruption and a recalibrating global political environment? The purpose of this IFJ research project is to understand how the Chinese government ad media apparatus attempt to influence the global narrative about China’s role and place in the world. Since 2019, IFJ research has been gathered and compiled in collaboration with journalists’ unions in countries including Myanmar, Tunisia, Serbia, Italy, Kenya, Peru, and the Philippines. Through a series of surveys, round table discussions, interviews and other types of research, data and information has been gathered to help inform understanding about China’s approach to the media and its efforts to shape a global narrative on China before and after Covid-19 [...] This report, which surveys working journalists directly in China’s high-priority investment and infrastructure locations (Kenya, Peru, and the Philippines), finds evidence that overt ambassadorial gestures and direct pressure on local journalists is not common. On the flip side, attempts to influence international perceptions via ‘vaccine diplomacy’ and investment in expanding Chinese media networks in international markets appears to be thriving." (Summary, page 2)
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"This report offers the most comprehensive assessment to date of Beijing’s global media influence and the ways in which democracies are responding. Drawing on media investigations, interviews, scholarly publications, Chinese government sources, and on-the-ground research by local analysts, it cove
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rs developments in 30 countries during the period from January 2019 to December 2021. It updates and expands upon two previous Freedom House studies published in 2013 and 2020, and it focuses largely on democracies to provide a more in-depth understanding of the deployment and reception of influence tactics in countries that possess relatively strong institutional protections for media freedom. Finally, the report offers recommendations to governments, the media sector, technology firms, and civil society groups on how they can bolster democratic defenses against CCP interference." (Page 3)
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"China has used Covid to benefit its global image through the activation of existing media dissemination channels overseas and the use of new tactics such as disinformation and misinformation. China’s largescale medical diplomacy campaign has also provided propaganda wins in many developing countr
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ies, burnishing Beijing’s image as a reliable partner. Anecdotal reports indicate that Beijing has stepped up its content offerings, in particular by tailoring content including disinformation for specific countries and translating state-run messages into local languages. In some countries, China was also seen as the purveyor of the most accurate information about the new coronavirus, showing its growing influence over global narratives. For Beijing, Covid diplomacy clearly offers another means through which it can exert its influence. This research shows that countries that are recipients of China’s Covid vaccine clearly have more positive coverage of China, but it cannot draw conclusions as to the factors behind that. This strategy has largely been acceptable to global journalists, who — judging by the results of our focus groups in three separate countries — do not perceive China’s advances as a threat at a national level. Such views are in part due to the incremental nature of the changes, the clumsiness of China’s propaganda effort and the irrelevance of much of the material provided to local audiences. However, the survey does reveal that when viewed globally, there does appear to be more concern about China’s influence, in particular in the Asia Pacific region. The survey indicates that the overall impact of Beijing’s outreach is a redrawing of the global media landscape — one story at a time, one country at a time — shifting the China coverage in a more positive direction. China is using a multi-pronged approach to redraw the information landscape to benefit its own global image. In 2020, Beijing effectively shut down journalistic access to China, through visa denials and freezes, partly driven by international border closures. This had the effect of creating a vacuum in China coverage, creating a demand for stories from China, which could then be filled with statesponsored content already available through content-sharing agreements." (Conclusions, page 7)
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"This article focuses on international news channels in the Global South and the perceptions by audiences in Latin America. Designed with the intention of re-shaping global narratives, international broadcasting is considered instrumental to public diplomacy and improving the image of particular cou
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ntries. While many studies focus on global media policies of specific countries or the messages broadcast by international media outlets, less attention has been paid to the impact on audiences. Based on a series of focus groups conducted in Mexico and Argentina, this article discusses how Latin American audiences perceive public diplomacy efforts as channelled by international news media and their effect on country image perception, by focusing on China’s CCTV-E, Russia’s RT and Iran’s HispanTV. The findings show that preconceived images contribute to undermine the acceptance of international broadcasters. In addition, participants were optimistic about RT’s prospects of success in Latin America, hesitant about HispanTV and pessimistic about China Central Television." (Abstract)
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"Looking at media involvement in Africa, one can only state that the continent is more important than ever. Next to traditional actors like the BBC or Radio France International, and to a smaller extent of Deutsche Welle or Radio Swiss International, there are new players. They do not seem to have t
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he same agendas as the older ones, but they bring about new versions of journalism, of attempted influence and propaganda. What differentiates them is, in the case of China, that funds do not seem to matter much. In the case of Turkey, that more and more scholarships are being offered and when it comes to Russia, that old alliances of the USSR in the Cold War are being reactivated. What separates them even further from the old players are the values that they stand for and try to propagate. They are offering a journalism that praises their own autocratic models of rule and, in the case of China in particular, they promote a positive journalism, that does not ask uneasy questions, a journalism that does not offend or hurt, but that usually pleases the powers-that-be." (Foreword)
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"The size of China’s State-owned media’s operations in Africa has grown significantly since the early 2000s. Previous research on the impact of increased Sino-African mediated engagements has been inconclusive. Some researchers hold that public opinion toward China in African nations has been im
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proving because of the increased media presence. Others argue that the impact is rather limited, particularly when it comes to affecting how African media cover China-related stories. This article contributes to this debate by exploring the extent to which news media in 30 African countries relied on Chinese news sources to cover China and the COVID-19 outbreak during the first-half of 2020. By computationally analyzing a corpus of 500,000 written news stories, this paper shows that, compared to other major global players (e.g. Reuters, AFP), content distributed by Chinese media (e.g. Xinhua, China Daily) is much less likely to be used by African news organizations, both in English and French speaking countries. The analysis also reveals a gap in the prevailing themes in Chinese and African media’s coverage of the pandemic. The implications of these findings for the sub-field of Sino-African media relations, and the study of global news flows are discussed." (Abstract)
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"The geopolitical implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has dislocated global life, shaken economies and caused over 4 million deaths, continue to play out. For China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP), China’s status as the virus’ origin posed political risks, heightened by international s
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peculation about the disease’s origins and criticism of Chinese authorities’ early handling of the outbreak. But with the virus relatively quickly brought largely under control at home, the pandemic has also offered the CCP political opportunities. With Xi Jinping (General Secretary since 2012) determined to reinvigorate Party rule and lead China to the centre of the world stage in what he has dubbed a ‘New Era’, Beijing has acted decisively both to mitigate the risks and seize the strategic opportunities created by the pandemic [...] › In Africa, Beijing has positioned itself as the solution to the virus, rather than its origin. It has provided medical supplies in a broad-based, ongoing campaign; donors include not only government entities but also Chinese companies and diaspora groups. Chinese medics with experience of treating the Coronavirus have been mobilised to share expertise with African counterparts. China has provided upwards of 16 million doses of Chinese produced vaccines to 31 African countries, often as donations (including as ‘samples’ ahead of potential sales). The delivery of this support has been designed for maximum visibility, with high-level handover ceremonies and media coverage used by Chinese ambassadors to promote CCP talking points. Just as importantly, Beijing has sought to shape narratives, speaking through a multifaceted messaging apparatus developed in Africa in recent years to ‘tell China’s stories’ to African audiences, both elite and popular. Africa was the first step in a major global expansion of Chinese Party-State media, with Africa-focused television, radio and text output. State media are increasingly joined by Africa-based diplomats taking to social media such as Twitter and Facebook – where some have adopted the strident voice of China’s so-called ‘Wolf Warrior diplomacy’." (At a glance, page 2)
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"China is an increasingly major player in the latest global economic configuration. As a formerly developing nation, China has the potential to view the world through a lens distinctive from current Western hegemonies in its news media and soft power strategies. China has already invested heavily in
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the African continent and South Africa specifically, including in its news media. Some research has suggested that non-Western, non-democratic countries might have a different approach to international news coverage, including more positive and constructive coverage that diverges from Western news coverage (which is often seen as unnuanced and unequal). A content analysis of Chinese print news media thus examined if Chinese news media's construction of South African reality differs from previous Western social constructions. The research analysed China Daily, a newspaper closely a liated with the Chinese Communist Party, as well as South China Morning Post (SCMP), an independent, privately-owned publication from Hong Kong. It investigated whether these papers use constructive journalism to cover South Africa, and how their coverage diverged and overlapped. The research found that there are observable differences on an ontological scale, and that both papers have different foci of interest and affective slant which diverge from Western news sources. However, similar to Western sources, both papers are largely not constructive on topics relating to South Africa, and are overall disinterested in local events in South Africa, reproducing the same inequalities in news reportage that exist with the current global hegemonic order." (Abstract)
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"To arrive at a careful evaluation of impact, this report concentrates on how the tactics of China’s influence operations have evolved during the first year of the pandemic. Looking at China’s key priority of information control, the first section conceptualizes the adaptation of influence opera
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tions to align with this preference while taking advantage of the global reach of social media. Building on this understanding, section two explores the ways in which Chinese influence operations have attempted to systematically exploit carve-outs that have emerged from how social media have regulated official statements and newsworthy content. Section three analyzes in more detail the integrated messaging apparatus China has sought to develop, in particular in respect of the specific roles that China’s diplomatic network, state media, and fake social media accounts play in creating, shaping, and promoting narratives. Unpacking China’s attempts to distinguish its endeavor of narrative control from disinformation campaigns, section four examines China’s responses to accusations of disinformation and steps taken by social media companies and by targeted states to address this specific tactic. The report concludes with evaluating the potential implications of China’s influence operations in terms of their immediate objective to shape international perceptions of China’s actions during the pandemic and raises attention about the capabilities developed in this process and their potential deployment in case of a further deterioration of relations with China." (Executive summary, page 4-5)
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"How does Chinese central media represent Africa through its environmental news? This article argues that the way in which Chinese central media organisations have reported environmental issues across the African continent has altered from a reactive “charm defensive” towards the promotion of a
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developmental model: “Ecological Civilisation”. Based on a critical discourse analysis of headline African news published by the Xinhua News Agency, this research illustrates the emergence of this new, unexpected turn in Chinese representations of Africa, as well as highlighting the coherencies and tensions within this discourse. Questioning why this change in the emphasis of content has occurred, it investigates explanations at the macro-, mezzo-, and micro-levels of analysis, concluding that the evidence indicates that Xinhua’s content remains closely linked to the soft power goals of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the presence of risk discourses in some reports indicates that the hegemonic discourse is altering. This could potentially be the result of Xinhua’s own commercial objectives in Africa, or of the subjectivities of individual Xinhua journalists seeping into reports." (Abstract)
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"Based on a literature review through January 2021, evaluated at an expert seminar, this policy brief provides a baseline analysis of changing tactics, narratives, and distribution strategies in Russian and Chinese information operations (IOs) relating to the covid-19 pandemic. Key findings: China c
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opied Russia’s tactics, spreading disinformation globally for the first time, particularly on the virus’s origins. But it lacks Russia’s skillset. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) turned to destructive and conspiratorial narratives in an attempt to blunt criticism of its initial failure to contain Covid-19. China’s previous approach built economic ties and influence with political elites, whereas Russia’s lies and disruption targeted broader public opinion. Russia’s approach evolved little; it recycled previous narratives, spreading a broad range of covid-19 disinformation. Evidence supports the theory that Russia seeks to strengthen itself in relative terms by weakening the West, while China seeks to strengthen itself in absolute terms. Collaboration agreements between state media and circular amplification of narratives during the pandemic do not (yet) amount to evidence of strategic Sino-Russian coordination." (Executive summary)
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