A new study has revealed that African journalists tend to give more favourable coverage to the United States than China, despite growing perceptions of China’s expanding influence on the continent.
The research, titled ‘Hierarchy of Influences and Mediated Public Diplomacy: The Case of China’s and the United States’ Footprints on African News Media’, was conducted by two African PhD candidates at the University of Colorado Boulder and presented at the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference.
The study analyzed foreign affairs reporting in Nigeria and Egypt to examine how journalistic norms shape mediated public diplomacy (MPD).
Findings show that most foreign affairs journalists in both countries view US diplomatic missions more favorably than China’s, influencing the frequency and tone of coverage.
In Nigeria, 64% of US embassy press releases became published news stories, compared to just 9% for China.
In Egypt, US releases were featured 30% of the time, versus 19% for China.
Several factors explain this preference. Nigerian journalists’ political leanings toward democracy shaped their interest in US messaging, with one journalist saying, “I think the US is a model democracy… I tend to pay more attention to US diplomatic messages because they align with my values.”
Egyptian journalists, meanwhile, cited strong access to US embassy media teams, which provided timely and newsworthy information, making it easier for them to report on American diplomacy.
The research also highlighted journalists’ reliance on press subsidies and resource limitations, which gave US diplomatic messaging an advantage.
American embassies consistently issued more frequent and credible releases than their Chinese counterparts, making them more attractive for local media outlets to cover.
Study co-author Success Osayi, a Nigerian scholar, said the findings underscore the power of journalistic routines in shaping diplomatic influence.
“Success in MPD depends less on sheer resources and more on alignment with journalistic practices: providing access, ensuring newsworthiness, and respecting credibility norms.
“Heavy-handed strategies like bribery or secrecy may yield short-term gains but risk long-term damage to credibility,” Osayi explained
The study calls for public diplomacy strategies to account for journalistic agency, emphasizing that reporters are not passive conduits for foreign messaging but active gatekeepers.
“Rather than simply transmitting propaganda, journalists filter, negotiate, and sometimes resist it,” Osayi added.
Overall, the study sheds light on the competitive landscape of foreign influence in Africa, suggesting that the United States’ diplomatic messaging strategy is currently more effective at engaging African journalists than China’s.
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