Overview

This book provides unique, on-the-ground insights into the expansion of Chinese media engagement and influence-building across the length and breadth of Africa. Does the PRC’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 Chinese 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 CCP 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. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the past, present, and future of Chinese influence operations within African media. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the past, present, and future of Chinese influence operations within African media.

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9781350532564

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Reviews

In this meticulously researched book, Emeka Umejei offers a definitive account of China’s multimodal engagement with African media. By grounding his analysis in interviews with journalists across the continent, he illuminates the tensions between influence operations and the pursuit of decolonial media futures. This is an essential contribution for anyone seeking to understand the shifting global dynamics of media power. * Iginio Gagliardone, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa * Ultimately, China in African Media stands as a landmark study in global communication and African media studies. It challenges both Western and Chinese paradigms, calling for an authentically African media discourse rooted in local realities rather than foreign models. His conclusion that China’s media expansion offers both an opportunity for decolonization and a risk of ideological capture is delivered with balance and precision. * Brian Murphy, Georgetown University, USA *

Author Information

Emeka Umejei is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Communication and Media, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Umejei holds a PhD in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has taught at several universities in Africa including the University of the Witwatersrand, American University of Nigeria, and the University of Ghana.

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