Storiestotell
Media forum discusses how best to tell the China-africa narrative
ALTHOUGH the distance between Africa and China may be far, there are a lot of stories to tell, especially in recent years.
According to statistics from the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, there are now more than 600 Chinaafrica cooperation projects in Africa that are either completed or underway, or have been signed to be implemented. These projects, valuing $108 billion, could create 209,000 direct jobs and contribute $1.15 billion tax revenue for African countries.
In terms of bilateral trade, in the first half of 2017, despite the economic headwinds worldwide, Chinaafrica trade hit $85.3 billion, a 19-percent increase over the same period last year, and the Chinese non-financial direct investment in Africa reached $1.6 billion, a 22-percent growth year on year.
Yet, despite these impressive figures in economic and trade fields, people in China and Africa still know little about each other. Chinese and African media coverage still has a long way to go to better facilitate cultural understanding between both sides. For this purpose, more than 40 editors from major media organizations in African countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Ghana and Kenya, and China got together to share their views on how to best report stories and further cooperate with each other at the China-africa Media Forum held in Johannesburg on August 14.
Themed with “Win-win Cooperation for Common Progress,” hosted by China’s State Council Information Office (SCIO) and organized by China’s Xinhua News Agency and South Africa’s Independent Media, the forum is aimed at fostering media cooperation.
Kang Bing, Vice President and Deputy Editor in Chief of China Daily, pointed out that Chinese media’s reporting of Africa cannot satisfy Chinese people’s need for information about the continent because of their limited coverage, low localization levels and other factors.
Currently, there are only seven media outlets from the Chinese mainland operating in South Africa, such