The holding of the China-Africa media cooperation forum on Tuesday marked yet another milestone in the growing relations between the two partners.
Held under the theme “China-Africa Media Cooperation in the Digital Era”, the one-day conference was a meeting of some top media minds in the two partners. The discussions centered on the impact of digital technology on media practice, news production in the digital era, and media regulation in a changing environment.
Kenya was a natural choice as host due to the country’s relatively developed and entrenched internet connectivity in the region, which has enabled impressive uptake of and experience in both digital technologies and content.
The country has a relatively long history of media liberalisation in the continent as well, an offshoot of the transition to a multi-party democracy about 20 years ago.
Kenya is also home to one of the largest corps of foreign correspondents and news bureaus in the continent. The East African country has an estimated 200 FM radio stations, 92 TV stations, 100 print and online publications and myriad social media platforms. The challenge has been how to fill these digital outlets with content that has integrity and utility value.
In his speech, China’s Ambassador to Kenya Dr Zhou Pingjian observed that the event was aligned to the ideals of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac), which has grown into an important and dynamic platform for China and Africa to carry out collective dialogues as well as an effective mechanism for practical cooperation, and represents an important flag for South-South cooperation.
Moreover, he noted that China has always paid attention to listening to the voices of Africa, respected Africa’s will, and been in line with Africa’s needs.
The meeting addressed three pertinent topics on digital media both in China and Africa. These included the impact of technology on media practice, news production and distribution in the digital era, and media regulation in a changing environment.
Further, the forum assessed progress made by the media towards building a knowledge society in Africa and China, and how this has been navigated to improve media contribution in national development and improving professionalism in content creation.
China and Africa always have helped and supported each other, fully demonstrating that China and Africa share weal and woe and the friendship between China and Africa is unbreakable.
The Chinese and African press should strengthen exchanges and dialogues, and share the stories of China-Africa cooperation and common development from a more comprehensive, balanced and objective perspective, so as to continuously enhance people-to-people connectivity and friendship between China and Africa.
The Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Maureen Mbaka said Kenya is in the forefront of pushing for the improved and respectable representation of Africa matters in international media.
Therefore, such media cooperation provides the opportunity to strengthen cooperation in the media sector and enhance China-Africa ties in line with the country’s foreign relations policy and thinking.
Indeed, Africa is keen on how to her own story from her point of view. “We want the media in Africa to find it necessary to stand up for and defend African values, and the African experience by giving it expression, giving it a voice, and authenticating it professionally using the emerging digital platforms as it has done through liberal media over the last decades,” Mbaka noted.
For Africa to tell its story, it needs to up its game in order to catch up and keep pace with the fast changing global digital environment. Speakers at the Nairobi conference noted the long learning curve for African media compared with developments in China.
For example, the unveiling of the world's first AI news anchor in China in November 2018 shows the wide gap in digital media experiences between the partners.
The empowerment measures proposed in the forum included lobbying African governments to zero-rate taxes on digital equipment in order to help fledgling media businesses move to the next level.
The authorities also need to create an enabling and progressive legal and regulatory framework that enhances rather than hampers growth of digital media in the continent.
Africa is looking up to China for technical support and capacity building in both skills and equipment. Of course, the second largest economy in the world is way ahead in media digitisation, at par with the top media houses in the developed world. Close platform sharing at both individual and institutional levels between the two partners should also be encouraged.
With the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, media industry players now fully appreciate and embrace digital technologies.
The forum directed the spotlight on the role digitisation has played in media development today, and the need to forge partnerships that will strengthen ongoing initiatives to digitally grow our media in a mutually beneficial way.
