Paper short abstract:

Drawing on content analysis of online news and interviews with journalists, this paper assesses the extent to which global media portray a diverse range of perspectives about French, US, and Chinese foreign interventions in Africa, and explore the key influences shaping those media narratives.

Paper long abstract:

News reporting of foreign interventions in Africa has largely positioned the continent as exploitable and unable to develop independently of external powers. Contemporary commercial and military interactions between African countries and powers like the US, France, and China are variously depicted as neo-imperialism bringing little benefit, or as welcome 'partnership' under African control. This paper explores the dynamics of this dichotomous discourse about African autonomy in the face of ongoing foreign interventions: to what extent do global media portray a diverse range of perspectives about French, US, and Chinese foreign interventions on the African continent, and what are the key influences on the narratives provided? We provide results from a comparative content analysis of two years (2015-2016) of coverage of those involvements in Africa in a selection of international online news sources (Al Jazeera, BBC, CCTV, CNN, France 24). We compare the perspectives that are given prominence, ignored or diminished in global media by analysing the thematic and geographical framing of the articles, their tones, the voices in the coverage, how often the legitimacy of foreign powers are questioned, and the extent to which the coverage reproduces tropes of Africa Rising or social disorder. We also draw on 15 interviews with journalists working for international media in Kenya and South Africa to shed light on influences shaping coverage. By combining the examination of media content and production, we aim to capture the dynamics behind the production of - and struggle over - international representations of foreign interventions in Africa.