Author: Beyonce Diamond Kpogli
In order for the media to tell the true story about Africa and China with no default from the Western Media, the Africa-China Centre for Policy & Advisory (ACCPA), in partnership with the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana, hosted a one-day media training for selected media practitioners on Wednesday 21st June 2023 in Accra.
The Africa-China Centre for Policy and Advisory is a Sino-African research and policy think tank and advisory firm headquartered in Accra, Ghana.
The Centre is dedicated to providing unbiased policy and market research as well as distinct views on Africa-China relations.
The training which forms part of a series of Africa-China Media Capacity-Building Programs of the ACCPA saw in attendance journalists from (TV, radio, newspapers, online blogs, etc.) being introduced to key insights regarding tracking, researching, reporting, and analyzing China’s relations with Ghana in particular and Africa in general.
According to the Executive Director of the ACCPA, Paul Frimpong, strongly believes that the media plays a critical role in shaping bilateral relations between Ghana and China; hence his outfit, ACCPA is committed to offering such training across the continent to help media practitioners pursue rewarding careers.
Presenting on the topic, Why China is now Africa’s favorite partner, Paul Frimpong stated that, China was the only country that supported the African continent’s infrastructure when needed it the most.
“One of the key reasons for the continuous rise of Sino-Africa relations can be linked to the late 1990s, when many countries on the continent were in dire need of critical infrastructure, and the only country that showed up was China. This has yielded tangible infrastructure development across Ghana”.
“Our aim is to get as close as possible with the media in terms of the research and engagement we are having with Africa, it’s important because they carry the information to the public which help makes governments in decision-making”.
We are so linked to picking stories from the Western media. We think now China coming to play here, I think the best part is to find strategies and means to give them access to media for a direct engagement between Chain and Africa, I believe this is the only way the media can tell the true story with no default from Westen Media”, Mr. Paul Frimpong explained.
Dr. Isaac Ankrah, a Senior Research Fellow of the ACCPA, spoke extensively about the historical journey of the media landscape and the roles that media reporting and analysis play in Ghana’s engagement with international partners, with case studies on Ghana-China media reporting.
Professor Jimin Wang, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute, also presented on the relevance of culture and people to exchanges between China and Ghana and, more specifically, elaborated on the opportunities available at his outfit to help Ghanaians who are interested in learning the Chinese language tap into the opportunities emanating from Ghana-China relations.
At the end of the training, the journalists commended ACCPA and Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana and expressed their keen interest in working with relevant stakeholders in order to be able to report accurately and factually on Ghana’s engagement with China.
