Some Media Personnel Present at the Programme
Founder of the African China Centre for Policy Advisory, Paul Frimpong, has called on the media to aid in fostering good relationships between the country and China through positive reportage.
According to him, most citizens have a negative perspective of China due to the propaganda materials produced by the western world.
He also added that due to the differences in ideologies between the Western and Wastern world, China has been branded as a ‘new colonizer’ by the Western press, however, that is inaccurate as China has, since the 20th century, aided in building up the continent.
He, therefore, advised the media to highlight the positive works China has done within the country as well as the historic friendship between China and Ghana so as to combat the negative perceptions that have been formed in the minds of citizenry.
“We all know that our media landscape has been Westernized by default so for centuries, to get access to international news, we have had to source them from the Western media which has been the norm. China has not been reported much in Ghana and the little reportage that you see is mostly linked to negative reporting.
Therefore, we have to tell our own story away from the western media and highlight the benefits that the country and continent has gotten from our relationship with China,” he said.
Mr. Frimpong spoke at the second edition of the Africa-China Media Fellowship Programme held at the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana, Legon.
The programme, which was organized by the Africa-China Centre for Policy and Advisory, aimed at engaging the media on Africa-China relations and hearing the perspectives of the media on the relationship between the two countries.
The first edition of the Programme was held in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania and the next edition will be communicated soon.
By Abigail Atinuke Seyram Adeyemi