Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe on Tuesday called on the media to deepen the China–Africa partnership by telling the “good story”. 

“For a very long time Africa has been branded as a continent of doom, only characterised by malnourished babies, poverty, crime, conflict, and squalor,” Radebe told delegates at the China–Africa media summit in Cape Town.

He said members of the African media had a duty to tell the “good story” that would help change the negative narrative to one which framed the continent as a land of opportunities and potential.

The summit was organised by China’s State Council Information Office (SCIO) and brought together 200 professionals and delegates from across Africa and China under the theme “A New Era of Win-Win Media Cooperation between China and Africa”.

Newspapers, news agencies, television, radio, and new media organisations from 43 countries were represented at the meeting.

Radebe said media leaders from both Africa and China had the opportunity to frame win-win solutions that would deepen the positive trajectory of cooperative development.

'Power of say'

Minister of the SCIO Jiang Jianguo, who delivered the keynote address, called for the creation of a communication landscape which aired coordinated voices.

“The power of say is a matter of survival and development and is especially important for developing countries,” he told delegates in Mandarin.

“The continuously rising influence of developing countries in the world today is the most revolutionary change in the international balance of power, but the international media landscape hasn’t adapted to the adjustment of the international situation,” he said. 

According to Jianguo developing countries were still “baffled” by the prejudices, misunderstandings, falsification of facts, and rigid images which exist in the media coverage on them.

Chinese president Xi Jinping arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday for a state visit hosted by Robert Mugabe and will co-chair the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (Focac) conference in Johannesburg from December 4-5.

China is Africa's largest trading partner and the trade volume between them amounted to $220-billion in 2014, according to China state news agency Xinhua.

Its investments in Africa amounted to $32.4-billion at the end of 2014, according to London-based BMI Research.

News24.com