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The Changing Face of International Media in Africa

Sneha Bhura
Sneha Bhura is Research Intern at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. read more
Commentary

The media sector in Africa is presently registering an above-average growth and is considered to be one of the fastest growing industries in the continent. Opportunities for investment in platforms like television, digital media and mobile are plentiful in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana because of rapid urbanisation and an emerging middle-class that comprises a relatively younger demographic. However, the conventionally well-established western media companies like the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Times, London are closing down their overseas bureaus due to budget constraints. 1 This has freed up space in a tempting business opportunity for emerging players like China and India by expanding their media footprint in the continent—to tell their own stories without the myopic first-world prejudices of the Western media. 2 But is the African populace ready to shift its allegiance from the timehonoured, well established Western media sources to the new entrants from developing countries like India, China, Russia and Latin America for their daily dose of international news? Which country is better poised to satiate the enormous appetite for local/international news in a continent witnessing a dramatic upsurge in literacy rates? Here, we compare the performance of two important competitors—India and China.

In a bid to influence world public opinion in its favour, China is now taking steps that go beyond bricks and concrete. And there is no better tool for creating a favourable perception of their country than the media industry to project an image of being a benign and a committed internationalist. 3 The Chinese government earmarked $8.7 billion in 2009-10 for its global media expansion and the major beneficiaries of this funding are the four big state-owned media corporations— the China Radio International (CRI), the Xinhua news agency, CCTV, and The China Daily (website and newspaper). All four already have a presence in Africa. CRI began broadcasting from Nairobi in 2006.

Xinhua is believed to have more than 20 bureaus across the continent whereas its television variant, CNC World started operations in Africa in the beginning of 2011. That very year, Xinhua partnered with a mobile phone operator in Kenya to provide news feeds to African customers. 44 Later in January 2012, CCTV set up CCTV Africa (its first outside China).Locally known as da kucha (big boxer shorts), it is based in an imposing 54-storey building overlooking the central business district of Nairobi. 5 The latest big-ticket Chinese media initiative in Africa was the launch of the China Daily’s Africa edition on December 14, 2012. With the formation of the Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, Sino-African media exchanges have become more frequent and since 2006 this engagement has been further strengthened. In the early years of the last decade, the relationship had primarily focussed on providing technical infrastructure assistance to African State broadcasters. But gradually the relationship has diversified from hardware support to training African media practitioners by conducting workshops for African journalists in China. Sino-African media relations have therefore acquired greater depth and substance in consonance with the improving bilateral ties. 6

On the other hand the Indian media has not been able to make a mark in Africa, and has failed to go beyond the limited scope of Bollywood and Indian TV soaps – the only few cultural exports to Africa. The “vacuum” in the African media space, presents an incredible opportunity for the Indian media to establish a strong foothold in the country. And it must fill up that space before China can further build on its already growing media presence in the continent. Not that Indian entrepreneurs in the media sector are not aware of this opportunity. Only recently Infinity Media which is a joint venture between India’s Essel Media, South Africa’s Oakbay Investments and Black Economic Empowerment programme launched a 24 hour local and current affairs news channel in South Africa. 7 Essel Media is part of the Essel group that controls Zee news, Zee entertainment and other verticals in India and globally and Oakbay holds a majority shareholder in The New Age – South Africa’s newest daily newspaper. However India needs a stronger strategic push to really make its presence count. The revival of the old warhorse Doordarshan is a big step in the right direction. 8 The chairman of the National Innovation Council, Sam Pitroda, is heading a committee that is looking to make progressive changes in PrasarBharti which oversees Doordarshan –for the purpose of launching a channel, for the first time ever, in Africa. 9 It is a laudable move considering that India, despite having the technical and journalistic expertise, has not really carved a niche for itself in the international media space while other state-funded channels such as Al Jazeera have marched ahead proving that a state-funded channel can also function efficiently. Strong financial backing is of course important. Instead of solely relying on government money, a licence-fee model of funding can generate considerable annual revenue for Doordarshan, which would be enable it to free itself of financial constraints and focus on becoming a credible and top-of-the-line news broadcaster. Then India can concentrate on leveraging its core strengths – quality journalists, a relatively freer media and better fluency in English – to give stiff competition to China in Africa. In fact, with an increasing number of Indians engaged in business ventures and investments in Africa, coupled with the goodwill of democracy, a strong Indian media presence in Africa can give it huge diplomatic advantage. Boosting media relations in a way also gives credence to the “commerce of ideas” that Mahatma Gandhi believed was a core component of India-Africa ties. 10

But even with China and India readying themselves to grab a substantial chunk of the media pie in Africa, the entrenched influence of Western media organisations is undeniable, as was stated in an editorial piece in the China Daily. “Even decades into independence, top-level media executives and editors across most of Anglophone and Francophone Africa trace their professional training and lifestyles to the West. The prism that informs civility, excellence, and success in most of Africa is largely Western.”11 Making a breakthrough in the complicated arena of News media broadcasting requires more than a generous dosage of money and technology, especially if it involves diminishing the influence of traditional players in the media-scape of the continent. It entails moving out of the comfort zone into the unknown and the controversial. 12 Until the Chinese media in Africa grabs that big story without being held hostage to the dictates of its political superiors, it will continue to be visible only in terms of physical splendour unlike India which has a real chance of winning the hearts and minds of the African people on the back of its commendable track record of media activism at home.

Keywords: Africa, Media
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