Understanding African journalistic agency in China–Africa media interactions: The case of Kenya

Abstract

Drawing on field observations and extensive interviews, this study investigates how Kenyan media practitioners exercise their agency when interacting with Chinese stakeholders. When dealing with Chinese stakeholders or China-related stories, Kenyan media practitioners developed three strategies to exercise their journalistic agency: (a) situational negotiation, (b) collective reflection, and (c) resistance, through which they have approached, negotiated with, and resisted their relations with their Chinese counterparts. This article challenges the misconceptions that Chinese media organizations always hold a powerful position vis-à-vis African media organizations, and that African agents are dependents or innocent victims with neither agency nor creativity.