This session was organized in cooperation with the International Visegrad Fund.
Speaker: Kateřina Procházková
Moderator: Christopher Walker
December 11th, 2020, 18:50-19:25 CET
Written by Olha Kotielnikova
Keywords: Propaganda, Elite Capture, Chinese Communist Party, China
Short annotation, summary
The Chinese Communist Party is trying to promote a new model
of journalism against the Western model, destabilizing Western values. This session presented the propaganda strategies and tactics that journalists need to be aware of.
The project or approach to be discussed in the session
The Chinese Communist party propaganda and examples of it.
Collaboration of state-owned Chinese media outlets with foreign media, purchases of foreign media outlets, advertising, training of journalists, and other types of strategies in order to influence the elites and the public opinion.
Evidence of impact
The result of the Chinese propagand is that10% of Czechs believed the Chinese propaganda that China helped more than the EU in the fight against COVID-19, despite the EU giving Czechia donations.
The commercial supplements being published in media that are not sufficiently labeled as such and may be mistaken as editorial content. e
Particular investigations have proven how China strives to influence its image perception, such as an award-winning project by Aktualne.cz that uncovered relationships with Charles University and a Czech company PPF that has interest in remaining and expanding its Chinese market.
Limitations, risks of the approach provided by the speaker
The Chinese propaganda is sophisticated and an expert on China should always be consulted when dealing with this topic since it is difficult to understand the context.
Takeaways
1. The Chinese Communist Party's propaganda is sophisticated and not always discernable.
2. The propaganda has long-term goals including the destabilization of Western values.
2. Journalists need to be better informed about its mechanisms that are similar in many countries.