How can China deepen China-Africa media relations and tell Africa’s stories rather than leave it to the Western media?

That’s the topic adressed by Prof. Li Xiguang, dean of the International Center for Communication at Tsinghua University (Beijing) in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Monday.

Li spoke on the sidelines of a seminar on China-Africa media cooperation organized by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya and local non-profit group, the Inter Regional Economic Network, according to a report in People’sDaily.

While Chinese media have the money, African journalists have the advantage of the language, Li told Xinhua, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China.

In addition to his job as dean of a school of journalism, Li also serves as vice chairman of the Journalism Education Committee for China’s Ministry of Education.

Li spoke of “domination” by Western media, urging Chinese and African media to use their existing strengths to gain leverage in the global media and “balance off the domination by the Western media,” People’sDaily reported.

“China has the capacity of technology and the capacity of money while African journalists have the language capacity. They can write good English, better than the Chinese journalists,” Li said.

The day-long seminar, entitled “Enhance China-Africa Media Cooperation for Shared Dreams,” was intended to produce suggestions on how to deepen China-Africa media relations and tell the story of the growing cooperation rather than leave it to the Western media, People’sDaily reported.

Li also said African journalists could learn from Western media how to become better at agenda setting.

Chinese and African journalists share a common dream for development and to have a better life, he said. These “synergies should be utilized to enable the two partners increase their global media influence so that they can tell their story to the world instead of letting the Western media tell the story, which often happens with distortions,” the report said.

He encouraged Chinese and African editors to invest more in knowing about trending global issues, especially regarding the media, so as not to be caught unawares.

The challenge for Chinese journalists, he said, is to gain  confidence; for African journalists, the challenge is they should seek to become more agenda setting like the Western journalists are.

In Africa, Li said the agenda is mostly being set by non-governmental organizations supported by the west, and this, he said, is a problem. He cited developments in North Africa, especially in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt.

“Even in those circumstances, the story was being told by the Western media or African journalists working for the Western media, ” he said.

African and Chinese journalists were outsmarted by their Western counterparts and missed an opportunity during the North African crises to tell “the true story behind the uprising in North Africa,” the report said. Instead, the story was told from the perspective of Western journalists.

African journalists need to learn that every media outlet, whether private or public, is essentially a tool of propaganda, Li said.

China and Africa should share more content to improve cultural understanding, Li said. China should also use the greater global outreach of its media to help Africa tell its story to the world instead of leaving it to the Western media.

More Chinese non-governmental organizations and foundations should help African journalists, as Westerners do, Li said.

It’s more important for African journalists to visit and experience China than to get training, Li said. And Chinese journalists should visit Africa to form informed opinions of each other, the report said.

Li has been pushing the reforms of Chinese press system for a while, according to the Tsinghua Univeristy website. He strives for an “open press system through press reform in China,” the website said. Since 2001, Professor Li has been leading a national program which trains government spokespeople and government leaders.

Li was an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow with the Washington Post in 1995, and a research fellow with Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy of Harvard University in 1999. He worked as a science writer, editor, senior editor and director of the political desk of Xinhua News Agency for 11 years before joining Tsinghua University, according to his bio.