China: Beijing Escalates Campaign to Reshape Global News Landscape: Survey

The Chinese regime is running an “extensive and sophisticated long-term” media outreach campaign to amplify its propaganda narrative globally, according to a survey by the world’s largest journalist organization.

In the survey released on June 23 and conducted with members of the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in 58 countries and territories, two-thirds of respondents said China was creating a “visible presence” in their national media.

There are also “clear signs” of Beijing targeting journalists in developing countries, such as those in Latin America, with ineffective or repressive governments, according to the organization.

Among Beijing’s key goals is pushing for favorable coverage about its grand infrastructure initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative, the IFJ found. The regime has offered special training programs, such as ten months of journalism training at prestigious Chinese universities.

The organization called the strategy “borrowing a boat to reach the ocean”: Beijing is outsourcing propaganda to non-Chinese media platforms to extend the reach of its talking points, while disguising the roots of such content.

Half of the respondents have traveled on sponsored trips to China designed to show positive aspects of the country; 36 percent of journalism unions surveyed said they were asked to sign cooperation agreements with a Chinese entity; while more than a third of them reported content-sharing partnerships with Chinese journalism unions and other outlets.

Beijing is also seeking direct control over its messaging infrastructure, the IFJ said, by acquiring foreign media outlets and setting up large-scale joint media ventures overseas.
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