Article: (Pragmatic) collaboration for progress or threat to autonomy? African news discourses about Chinese technology in Nigeria and Ghana

This is a guest post by Edwin Nfor, a doctoral student in University of Jyväskylä. The study “(Pragmatic) collaboration for progress or threat to autonomy? African news discourses about Chinese technology in Nigeria and Ghana” by Dennis Nguyen , Bei Wang and Bruce Mutsvairo from the Utrecht University, The Netherlands studied the multifaceted portrayal of … Continued


Nationalistic media narratives in TV during the India-China border conflict

The study “Primetime Nationalism: Analysing Monologues on India’s Republic TV and Times Now During Indo-China Border Conflict” by Anilesh Kumar from Hong Kong Baptist University looked at the media narrative construction in English language broadcast news in India regarding the India-China border conflict of 2020. As shown in previous studies, media narratives are shaped by … Continued


Data journalism as a cure against misinformation

The study “Examining the Democratic Potential of Data Journalism in Curing Misinformation” by Tianru Guan and Qiong Wang from Wuhan University used the Chinese case of “Military World Games and the origin of Covid-19” to examine the effectiveness of data journalism in debunking misinformation. The Covid-19 epidemic amplified the so-called infodemic politics, as numerous conspiracy … Continued


Flood photo galleries and their newsworthiness

The study “Their floods and Our floods: News values of flood photo galleries of Associated Press and Xinhua News Agency” by Hailing Yu and Guanfeng Chen from Hunan University investigated two news outlets, Associated Press (AP) and Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua) and how their photo galleries presented floods as newsworthy. Photo galleries are a relatively … Continued


Picture: Lost in the Ancient City, by Daniel Tong, license Unsplash

Technologization, LGBT self-media, and the the Chinese news ecology

Increasingly, social actors from outside the journalism business, including bloggers, commentators, coders, and Web analytics managers participate in the making of news and reshape journalism. This process also includes non-human actors such as algorithms and automated systems. The new article by Yidong Wang of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Valerie Belair-Gagnon of University of Minnesota, Twin … Continued


Picture: China at night by Ken Lawrence and Another dimension by Rene Böhmer, licenses CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Data journalism struggles to gain foothold in China

Data journalism gained momentum in China around 2011-2012. Shuling Zhang and Jieyun Feng, of the UIBE University in Beijing, seek to find out how it is developing currently. Practicing data journalism creates enthusiasm in China, but it is only applied on a rather cursory level, their new study states. Researchers explored the diffusion of data … Continued


Picture: Nairobi skyline by Babak Fakhamzadeh, license CC BY-NC 2.0, cropped

ARTICLE: Chinese media has a limited effect on Kenyan and South African students

The growing number of Chinese-owned media in different African has demonstrated how Beijing wants to create a stronger mediated relationship with Africa. Some of the media projects in recent years have caused notable controversy and opposition. But how influential are Chinese media in Africa? ask Herman Wasserman of the University of Cape Town, and Dani … Continued


Picture: Geometric wood pattern by Teo Duldulao, license CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Convergence and de-convergence at a Chinese newsroom

A well-established organizational culture and a working routine  are crucial for legacy media when adapting to rapid changes in the digital age, a new study states. Ke Li, of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, did ethnographic research at the Chinese newspaper Beijing News for four months. Li proposes a convergence and de-convergence model of … Continued


Picture: Smog in Beijing by 螺, license CC BY-SA 3.0

ARTICLE: Reporting of the Beijing’s 2013 smog hazard emphasized the role of experts

Air pollution is one of the main environmental concerns in Chinese cities. Sibo Chen, of Simon Fraser University, studied how Beijing’s smog hazard in 2013 was covered by the Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, South China Morning Post (SCMP) and the Associated Press (AP). The severity of the smog hazard captured the media’s attention in … Continued


Picture: Chinese Style Minaret by Kevin Schoenmakers, license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

ARTICLE: Chinese media frame Islam and Muslims negatively

Chinese state news reports project an overall negative view of Muslims, a new study shows. Luwei Rose Luqiu of Pennsylvania State University, and Fan Yang of the University at Albany, conducted a three-part research about Islamophobia. The researchers did a content analysis of Chinese state news media reports from 2005-2015 about Muslims and Islam (n=15 427), … Continued