INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Changing the Narrative China‘s Media Offensive in Africa SERGIO GRASSI April 2014 n China’s media offensive in Africa is an expression of the need to create advantage­ous conditions for its own trade relations and for strategic alliances, for example in international organizations. n At the same time, China’s global charm offensive or»charm defensive« is also a reaction to what China often feels is unfair reporting in western media about China and China in Africa. n Consequently, the Chinese leadership is investing in internationalizing and expan­ding its state media in cooperation with African state media and in ambitious ex­change and training programmes for African journalists. n The aforementioned objectives of Chinese foreign media are accompanied and sup­ported by strategic Chinese corporate investment in information technology and telecommunications infrastructure in African countries. In other words, China’s soft power approach is flanked by hard power. n German foreign and development policy should carefully analyse the growing com­petition and criticism of western reporting about Africa and draw conclusions for media development cooperation.