Soft Power in the Living Room: A Survey of Television Drama in CCTV's Foreign Language Channels

In China’s quest for soft power, serialized TV drama, animation, and cinema are the top three cultural industries on which the Chinese government is betting to influence attitudes and perceptions overseas. But despite its prominence, television entertainment is largely absent from studies on Chinese soft power. This chapter contributes to addressing this gap by presenting the results of a content analysis of over 170 television drama series (dianshiju) broadcast on four of China Central Television’s (CCTV’s) foreign-language channels between 2004 and 2015. By analyzing the genre, theme, time of action, and location of the limited selection of television shows made available through these channels, the author seeks to understand how, through the narrative of fiction, China’s public broadcaster contributes to building an officially sanctioned Chinese narrative on contemporary Chinese society for global audiences

How Influential Are Chinese Media in Africa? An Audience Analysis in Kenya and South Africa

The increased presence of Chinese media in Africa has been the focus of much debate since the early 2010s. Discussions tend to revolve around issues of production and content, providing little evidence on the way audiences decode media messages aimed at extending China’s “soft power.” This article uses data from seven focus groups with media and communication university students in Kenya and South Africa to explore the efficacy of Chinese-mediated public diplomacy. We show that Chinese media have little impact on students’ information habits, demonstrate that attitudes toward China are predominantly negative, and argue that this stereotyping affects opinions about Chinese media. We also suggest that some students’ favored news values overlap with those associated with Chinese media. This may indicate a potential affinity between the journalistic practice of Chinese media in Africa and that of future Kenyan and South African media professionals, which could increase the chances of China’s media engagements having an impact in the long term

Chinese Media Engagement in South Africa: What is its impact on local journalism?

China’s footprint in Africa’s media sector over the last decade has reached dimensions that make it impossible to go unnoticed. In South Africa, one of the countries where this imprint is most diversified, Chinese media have been engaged in a varied range of activities, including content production and distribution, infrastructure development, direct investment in local media and training of journalists. Building on previous exploratory studies by the authors, this paper addresses an unresolved question in the study of China’s media internationalization: the impact on journalism. Using data from 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with editors, journalists and policy makers, we investigate how much influence Chinese media exercise on journalism in South Africa. We present responses along three dimensions: consumption of and attitudes towards Chinese media, impact on local journalism and views about South Africa–China relations. Our data offer evidence that, despite having substantially increased their presence, Chinese media are far from having a profound impact on media professionals. While some interviewees report the adoption of some Chinese media in their daily news consumption, scepticism towards China, and by extension its media, dominates. We discuss these findings in the context of Chinese state-owned media’s attempts to increase their discursive power globally

‘Transatlantic connection’: K-pop and K-drama fandom in Spain and Latin America

The global circulation of Asian cultural products has been on a constant rise since the 1990s. However, the arrival to Spanish-speaking audiences is a more recent phenomenon, one that is linked to the consolidation of web-based tools for consumption, distribution and discussion of cultural artefacts. The different stages in which Hallyu, or the ‘Korean Wave’, reached different countries determined the intensity of scholarly interest in the phenomenon. If the research gap between Asia and Europe is wide, the later arrival to Spain and Latin America means that studies on the reception of Korean popular culture, including those dealing with fandom, are quasi-non-existent. This article is a first attempt at mapping the demographics of K-pop and K-drama fans in the Spanish-speaking world, through an analysis of an online survey. Drawing from the uses and gratifications approach in mass communication research, we discuss fans’ appropriation of K-pop, describe their shared iconography and analyse the peculiarities of male fans by studying their self-narratives. We conclude with a discussion on the need for studies of fandom to transcend national boundaries as exemplified by the advent of a ‘transatlantic connection’ linking fans in Spain and in Latin America via South Korea

Narratives of Contemporary Africa on China Global Television Network’s Documentary Series Faces of Africa

This paper examines the documentary series Faces of Africa, broadcast on CGTN Africa, the African branch of China Global Television Network (CGTN, formerly known as CCTV International) since 2012. Using in-depth interviews and content analysis, we canvas the layers of supervision, censorship, agency and cross-cultural collaboration that lead to a creative dialogue between filmmakers and Chinese commissioning producers. We argue that, compared to news programs on both CGTN and other global networks, the documentary series allows a more positive and humane portrayal of African people. However, given that CGTN often engages non-Chinese filmmakers and seeks to emulate global production values to attract non-Chinese viewers, the extent to which CGTN’s documentaries on Africa contrast to those of other global networks remains a question for further debate

La internacionalización de los medios de comunicación chinos: un estudio de la producción periodística en CGTN AFRICA = The internationalization of Chinese media: a production study of CGTN Africa

Desde mediados de los años 2000, los medios de comunicación estatales chinos han emprendido un proceso de internacionalización con el objetivo de incrementar la capacidad de Pequín de influir sobre la opinión pública global. África, en donde los principales medios chinos (Xinhua, CRI, China Daily…) han establecido sedes regionales, es el continente en donde este proceso se hace más visible. Uno de estos medios es CGTN Africa, centro de producción y difusión de la Televisión Central de China (CCTV) en Nairobi (Kenia). Este artículo usa 36 entrevistas en profundidad con trabajadores y extrabajadores de CGTN Africa para dar respuesta a tres cuestiones: cuál es el proceso de producción periodística de la cadena, cuáles son los valores-noticia imperantes en la redacción y qué impacto tienen sus emisiones sobre los profesionales de la comunicación en el continente. El análisis de las entrevistas revela, por un lado, una permanente negociación entre estructura y agencia, que da lugar a un producto informativo híbrido, algo que se podría llamar, parafraseando usos similares, “noticias sobre África con características chinas”. Por el otro, el articulo pone de relieve la importancia de prestar más atención desde el ámbito académico a los procesos comunicativos que ocurren entre países y regiones del Sur Global. ABSTRACT Since the mid-2000s, China’s State-owned media have engaged in a process of internationalization that has the objective of increasing Beijing’s ability to sway global public opinion. Africa, where some of the most influential Chinese media (Xinhua, CRI, China Daily…) have set up regional headquarters, is the continent where this process is more clearly seen. One of these news organizations is CGTN Africa, China’s Central Television’s (CCTV) production and broadcasting centre in Nairobi (Kenya). This paper uses 36 in-depth interviews with current and former CGTN Africa employees to answer three questions: what is the news production process like at the station; what are the news values most commonly used in the newsroom; and, what impact does CGTN Africa have on media professionals in the continent. The analysis of interviews reveals, on the one side, a constant negotiation between agency and structure, which leads to a hybrid news product that could be labelled, paraphrasing other similar uses, “African news with Chinese characteristics.” On the other hand, this paper calls for more academic research on communication processes between countries and regions in the Global South

¿Se acumula capital social en Asia Oriental con el uso de las redes sociales? Inferencia causal estadística con datos del Asian Barometer Survey

Early experimental studies showed negative results regarding the potential of Internet use to enhance social capital. Since then, a significant number of studies have reported positive effects. However, the findings are still inconclusive due to the diversity of Internet use, conceptual ambiguity of social capital, lack of cross-cultural studies, and methodological limitations regarding causal inference. In this paper, we use data from the Asian Barometer Survey and statistical c ausal inference to examine whether using social media to connect with other people increases s ocial capital in four East Asian countries and territories. The effects of social media use on participation in voluntary associations and general trust were mixed at best, with no clear and consistent positive effects. In contrast, social media use fairly consistently increased network size in our data. The implications of these findings are discussed. KeywoRdsGeneral Trust; Internet use; Nearest Neighbor Matching; Network Size; Voluntary Associations

The Power and the Story: The Global Battle for News and Information by John Lloyd, (2017) London: Atlantic Books

Most journalists around the world will agree that a central element of their jobs is to be as truthful as possible to the events they are covering. However, as John Lloyd writes in The Power and the Story, staying loyal to the truth is not always an easy task. In authoritarian regimes, the State’s shadow looms large over journalistic freedom, dissenting voices are suppressed and mainstream media are under the tight control of those who wield power. In democratic societies, journalism is often practised under the pressure of the market, frequently leading to partial accounts of events. Based on personal interviews with some of the defining figures in contemporary journalism, Lloyd’s direct experience in Egypt, the UK, Italy, Russia and other countries, and a comprehensive review of secondary sources, The Power and the Story surveys the state of journalism across the globe, starting in China and concluding with the United States, highlighting the apparently shrinking appreciation for good journalism worldwide