MCLC: China Daily African edition

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: China Daily African edition
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Source: The Guardian (5/14/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/14/china-daily-newspaper-launches-
african-edition

China Daily to publish African edition as Beijing strengthens voice abroad
State-owned English-language newspaper that claims an independent
editorial policy 'to introduce China to the world'
By David Smith in Johannesburg

China's biggest English-language newspaper is to publish a weekly African
edition with bureaux in at least two countries on the continent.

The African operation of the state-run China Daily will generate a range
of Africa-specific content. It is to be based in Johannesburg, South
Africa, with another office pencilled in for Nairobi, Kenya, reports said.

The aim is to promote China's interests in Africa, particularly mineral
exploitation and easy immigration policies, and to counter what is seen in
some countries as a negative reputation, a source said. "This is a massive
thing," the source said. "China sees Africa as the ultimate source of the
minerals it needs for economic growth."

China's state media has been given hundreds of millions of dollars to
strengthen the country's voice in the world. At the forefront is the
recent opening of a CCTV (China Central Television) operation in New York.

It is not clear how widely China Daily's African edition will be published
or who its target readership is. "I don't think that is the priority now,"
the source added. "This is a symbolic move. They are working it out as
they go along."

In Johannesberg there will be a bureau chief and two staff, relying
heavily on freelancers for content, the source added. China Daily has
reportedly sent some staff from its Beijing office to work on stories for
the launch issue.

South Africa's City Press
<http://www.citypress.co.za/International/News/Chinese-paper-to-launch-Afri
ca-edition-20120512> newspaper said the paper will be aimed at South
Africans and focus mainly on business news. It quoted Gao Anming, China
Daily's deputy chief editor, as saying: "It will aim to introduce China to
the world and present news with a Chinese angle."

Although the paper is state-owned, Gao said the paper had an independent
editorial policy and its editorial board members were not government
officials. "We do run reports criticising government and suggesting
measures on how it should improve."

China Daily sells 250,000 copies at home each day, City Press reported,
with weekly editions selling 170,000 copies in America and 150,000 in
Europe. Gao said the paper initially expected to sell 10,000 copies in
Africa.An estimated one million Chinese people have moved to work in
Africa 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/06/chinas-economic-invasion-of-af
rica> in the past decade as economic ties deepen. Bilateral trade grew
from $10.6bn (£6.67bn) in 2000 to $160bn in 2011, according to Chinese
state media.

But the country has faced fierce criticism for propping up dictators and
trampling human rights
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/02/china-zimbabwe-workers-abuse>.
Jinghao Lu, an analyst on China-Africa desk at the Johannesburg
consultancy Frontier Advisory <http://www.frontier-advisory.com/>,
welcomed the arrival of China Daily. "Chinese journalists on this
continent are currently relatively small in number," he noted.

"It's good for more Chinese to understand what's going on in Africa
because of China's increasing involvement in the continent. It's such a
diverse continent with so many languages and cultures. China wants to
improve African news coverage."

Many of the new paper's readers would be African rather than Chinese, he
added. "China Daily having a special African focus will allow people to
see more of what China thinks about Africa and what China understands
about Africa. It will be useful for the whole world."