China’s growing influence on global media
Pandemic year sees strong push of Beijing’s soft power
A planned tie-up to air a Chinese-language news program on Philippine television stirred speculation (and some ill feeling) last month alongside concerns of Beijing's growing influence in the country.
While ABS-CBN News said it would have retained editorial control over the scrapped show (which was, anyway, produced by a Chinese Filipino company), an International Federation of Journalists report released this week shows China has been expanding attempts shape the narrative around it and its role in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Citing a survey of 54 journalist unions—including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines—across 50 countries in early 2021, IFJ said that "[a]s the pandemic started to spread, Beijing used its media infrastructure globally to seed positive narratives about China in national media, as well as mobilizing more novel tactics such as disinformation."
The survey was a follow-up on one done in 2020.
FULL REPORT:The Covid-19 Story: Unmasking China’s Global Strategy
The efforts at soft power and media influence began long before the pandemic and includes training and exchange programs for journalists, content-sharing deals "feeding state-sponsored messages into the global news ecosystems," partnerships with journalism unions and ownership of publishing platforms, IFJ also said.
COVID-19 aid
China has provided pandemic assistance to all but three of the nations included in the survey, providing everything from Personal Protective Equipment to vaccines.
Through the pandemic year, the Philippines has received test kits, PPEs, and vaccines from the Chinese Embassy. China built a hospital in Tunisia "in order to be seen as saviors," journalists from that country said.
"For China, these rescue packages fulfilled the very real need for medical assistance at the same time as providing a propaganda boon illustrating Beijing's status as a generous partner for nations in need," IFJ said.
More than two-thirds of countries where respondents said the dominant media narrative was "China's fast action against Covid-19 has helped other countries, as has its medical diplomacy" were recipients of donated Chinese vaccines, the IFJ report said, noting also that "63% of recipient countries also reported that coverage of China had become more positive since the COVID outbreak."
Friendly governments
Praise from government officials has also helped shape perception of China, with one Serbian journalist in the study pointing out that "the government of President Aleksandar Vučić 'does the work for China'."
The case study on Serbia notes that Serbian President Vučić "publicly begged China for medical aid" to address the pandemic. A pro-government tabloid later put up a billboard "of Chinese President Xi Jinping with the words 'Thank you, brother Xi'.”
Much of Serbian media is owned or controlled by the state and China has become a prominent element of the government narrative, IFJ said. The report quotes one Serbian journalist as saying: "I saw an official diplomat in the Serbian public service, use every opportunity to say, Serbia is the best country in Europe, thanks to our president and the assistance of China."
Citing a study by the Institute for European Affairs, IFJ said 40% of Serbians surveyed believed China was the country's biggest source of aid and only 17% correctly identified the European Union as its biggest donor.
In Tunisia, a donation of hand sanitizers from the Chinese Embassy that a journalist union turned down was later coursed through the country's health ministry.
"In some cases so-called Chinese COVID aid was actually purchased by governments but publicized as a donation," IFJ also noted.
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Content tie-ups
In Serbia, as in many of the countries included in the survey, state media has content-sharing agreements with China Central Television, Xinhua, and Xinhua affiliate China Economic Information Service.
State television in Tunisia has also partnered with China's State Council Information office and the National Radio and Television Administration of China for a "Chinese Television week".
In Italy, state-run news agency ANSA has partnered with Xinhua to create the Xinhua Italian Service, which has seen ANSA picking up 50 Xinhua stories a day "with Xinhua taking editorial responsibility for the content while ANSA serves as a tool of distribution."
An Italian journalist quoted in the report and who spoke at its launch said that ANSA has content-sharing agreements with many other news agencies and that editorial control remains with them.
IFJ found that "content offered to global journalists is becoming more tailored and more country-specific, with efforts being made to translate Chinese propaganda into different languages, even those that are not widely spoken such as Italian and Serbian."
'Wolf warriors' on social media
Attempts to shape the narrative around China have also included disinformation on social media:
"During 2020, China’s global disinformation campaign came to the fore. Tweets from its Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian showcased conspiracy websites, including one that claimed COVID-19 was brought to China by US soldiers attending the Army Games in Wuhan, the city in which the first outbreak was discovered."
That narrative was then amplified across social media by an army of Chinese ambassadors and other foreign ministry spokesmen, who became known as practicing ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomacy."
In Italy, videos spread of Italians supposedly applauding Chinese COVID-19 aid from their balconies.
The video was actually an edited version of one where Italians were clapping to show their support and appreciation for their healthcare workers.
"State actors disseminated doctored videos, spread false information suggesting COVID-19 originated from Italy, and seeded the incorrect narrative that handwashing did not succeed in preventing the spread of COVID-19," the IFJ report said.
"Beijing has taken a more assertive and interventionist approach to shaping the COVID-19 narrative, conducting coordinated disinformation and misinformation campaigns across social media platforms at the very highest level."
READ: Army of fake fans boosts China’s wolf warriors on social media
Narrative landscape
Reaction to China's media outreach has been mixed, with nearly half of respondents from the Asia Pacific region seeing it as negative and half of respondents from Africa seeing it as beneficial.
"Three-quarters of African respondents said they viewed cooperation with Chinese entities as positive," IFJ said. In Latin America, 75% were unsure whether Chinese influence on their national media is positive or negative as were 60% of respondents from the Middle East and North Africa and 67% of respondents in Europe.
Respondent journalists also said that their media systems are robust enough to resist Chinese influence. In roundtable discussions in the Philippines, journalists said that the increasing presence of Chinese media in the Philippines provides an opportunity to engage China's journalists and share best practices.
The research team led by Louisa Lim of the University of Massachusetts Amherst wrote, however, that "evidence from the global survey shows the narrative landscape is being redrawn globally, story by story."
"Much like China's island-building efforts in the South China Sea, where Beijing's land reclamation efforts were only noticed once they had become military installations, these two surveys show together that Beijing is steadily reshaping the global media landscape nation by nation."
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From Poynter, Christiane Amanpour on objectivity and truth. But also advice from cult and undue influence expert Steven Hassan on dealing with people hooked on misnformation: "What works best is asking a good question in a respectful way, waiting for an answer, and then following up and understanding that the person who still is in there wants to know the truth, wants to do the responsible thing and doesn’t like to be exploited and lied to."
From The New York Times, Trump's campaign to cast doubt on the 2020 US elections has led to proposals for voting restrictions:
"The bills demonstrate how disinformation can take on a life of its own, forming a feedback loop that shapes policy for years to come. When promoted with sufficient intensity, falsehoods — whether about election security or the coronavirus or other topics — can shape voters’ attitudes toward policies, and lawmakers can cite those attitudes as the basis for major changes."
From NPR: Most pandemic misinformation like COVID denial, hoax cures and anti-vaccination conspiracy theories have been traced to just 12 people.
"The 'Disinformation Dozen' produce 65% of the shares of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms," said Imran Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which identified the accounts."