Ecological Civilisation Discourse in Xinhua’s African Newswires: Towards a Greener Agency?

Boughen, Robert 2021. Ecological Civilisation Discourse in Xinhua’s African Newswires: Towards a Greener Agency? African Journalism Studies. 42 (3), pp. 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783

TitleEcological Civilisation Discourse in Xinhua’s African Newswires: Towards a Greener Agency?
TypeJournal article
AuthorsBoughen, Robert
Abstract

How does Chinese central media represent Africa through its environmental news? This article argues that the way in which Chinese central media organisations have reported environmental issues across the African continent has altered from a reactive “charm defensive” towards the promotion of a developmental model: “Ecological Civilisation”. Based on a critical discourse analysis of headline African news published by the Xinhua News Agency, this research illustrates the emergence of this new, unexpected turn in Chinese representations of Africa, as well as highlighting the coherencies and tensions within this discourse. Questioning why this change in the emphasis of content has occurred, it investigates explanations at the macro-, mezzo-, and micro-levels of analysis, concluding that the evidence indicates that Xinhua’s content remains closely linked to the soft power goals of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the presence of risk discourses in some reports indicates that the hegemonic discourse is altering. This could potentially be the result of Xinhua’s own commercial objectives in Africa, or of the subjectivities of individual Xinhua journalists seeping into reports. This research provides significant contributions to an understanding of Chinese soft power in Africa, the ecology of Chinese media in Africa, and the development of environmental discourses.

KeywordsChina–Africa, Xinhua, ecological civilisation, environmental journalism, news, soft power
JournalAfrican Journalism Studies
Journal citation42 (3), pp. 67-81
ISSN2374-3670
2374-3689
Year2021
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783
Publication dates
Published08 Jun 2021
Supplemental file
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Page range1-15

Related outputs

Sino-African journalism and journalistic fields: CGTN Africa’s workers between worlds
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Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance, and Paradox
Boughen, R. 2021. Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance, and Paradox. Critical Arts. 35 (4), pp. 126-128. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2021.1956984

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