China's International Communication strategy in Latin America: the implications for the region and beyond (CICLA)

本项目考察了中国的国际传播战略及其对拉美新闻业和公共领域的影响。除了通过控制海外当地媒体机构的叙事来重塑其国际形象的主要目标之外，中国的影响力战略还有助于实现地缘政治目标。10年来，举办中拉媒体峰会，推动中拉新闻机构签署合作协议。已有十多个拉美国家的记者来华参加培训。与此同时，拉丁美洲一些最著名的报纸和广播公司越来越多地使用中文消息来源。考虑到这一点，本项目的总体目标是评估中国在拉丁美洲传播战略的程度和影响。它将通过三种方式做到这一点：1)它将通过分析中国的政策文件，揭示并绘制出中国寻求影响该地区媒体的方式；2)通过采访在中国参加过培训课程的记者或在与中国合作伙伴签署合作协议的媒体机构工作的记者，以及批判性地分析他们的报道，评估中国对该地区公共领域和记者实践的影响；3)它将通过进行一项创新的框架研究来衡量受众的反应，该研究将通过焦点小组来阐述，这将测试公众如何参与北京传播的叙事及其“建设性新闻”方法。实证研究将有助于理解中国的全球影响力战略及其对公共领域的影响。从概念上讲，它将挑战我们对公共外交和国际媒体流动的认识，以及国家和地区媒体生态系统对新闻业的影响。

This project examines China's International Communication strategy and the implications for journalism and the public sphere in Latin America. Beyond the primary goal of reshaping its international image through gaining control of the narrative on local media organisations overseas, China's influence strategy is instrumental to achieving geopolitical goals. Over the past decade, the organisation of China-Latin American media summits has enabled the signing of cooperation agreements between Chinese and Latin American news organisations. Journalists from more than a dozen Latin American countries have participated in training courses in China. At the same time, there has been an increased use of Chinese sources by some of the most prominent newspapers and broadcasters in Latin America. Considering this, the overall aim of this project is to evaluate the extent and impact of China's communication strategy in Latin America. It will do so in three ways: 1) It will unveil and map out the ways in which China is seeking to influence the media in the region by analysing Chinese policy documents; 2) it will evaluate the impact of Chinese influence on the public sphere and for the practice of journalists in the region, by interviewing journalists that participated in training courses in China or work for media organisations that signed cooperation agreements with Chinese partners, as well as by critically analysing the reports produced by them; 3) it will gauge audience response by conducting an innovative framing study articulated through focus groups, which will test how the public engages with the narratives spread by Beijing and its "constructive journalism" approach. Empirically this study will contribute to the understanding of Chinese global influence strategy and the implications on the public sphere. Conceptually, it will challenge our knowledge of public diplomacy and international media flows, and the effects on journalism in national and regional media ecosystems.