Blog blossoms into network

Website an antidote to ignorance on China, Africa development issues

Online platforms are fast becoming the venue of choice for African nations to broaden their social participation and connections with China and the rest of world.

Eric Olander, a veteran new media and broadcast journalist, who runs the popular website China Africa Project, says his online platform is dedicated to exploring every aspect of China's growing engagement with Africa.

Olander says the website, which relies on a combination of original content and third party material, has been growing in popularity, with more than 140,000 followers on Facebook. According to Olander, most of the followers are from Africa judging from the vibrant and enthusiastic responses to the various development issues pertaining to the continent.

"We started in 2011, and already have the largest online community in Africa. Every month, we get at least 7,000 new followers," he says.

"Though we focus on China and Africa, we ensure that our coverage is neutral and unbiased. We do not follow any particular agenda or favor anyone, be it the Chinese, the Africans, the Europeans or anyone for that matter. Our objective is to use social media to engage in discussions and not to promote an agenda."

Olander says this has not stopped critics from dubbing the project as "pro-China", "anti-China" or "biased toward Africa" and "anti-American" or "pro-Western".

"Such criticism is good as it indicates that our impartial editorial stance is actually effective," he says.

"The China-Africa story is so vast, so complex and so varied that it allows people to see exactly what they want to see. My goal is to portray this story for what it is: complicated, extremely nuanced and vitally important in the broader global geopolitical discourse." At the same time, the aim is to ensure that there are no personal attacks, Olander says.

The China Africa Project originated in 2010 when Olander was living in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"When I first visited Kinshasa in 2005, it barely had any Chinese community to speak of. By 2009, however, it was not uncommon to see groups of Chinese business people and construction companies in Kinshasa. But there was very little that was known about them."

Olander says that unlike Americans and Europeans, Chinese have been able to establish close links with the locals. He says his first visit to China was in 1989. His association with China continued as a student and journalist subsequently.

"Taking advantage of my China experience and connections, I started to record China's engagements in Africa through blogs initially. Judging by the responses I received, I understood that China's strides in Africa were something that was not well known and for which there was a tremendous audience."

Olander says his assumption that China was often misunderstood in Africa was reinforced when he started to work as a journalist for the English service of a local radio station in Paris. "The station had its own views on China and its role in Africa, while the editors were not too keen on carrying too much news about the China-Africa engagements," he says.

"Once again I was confronted with a stunning level of political ignorance that motivated me to expand my blog to a podcast. Each week I would call up an expert from academia, business, diplomacy and other relevant sectors to ask them 15-20 minutes of questions.

"There is no doubt that there is a growing interest for China-Africa news, as the monthly downloads of the podcasts, that I along with South African journalist Cobus van Staden put out, have reached more than 30,000 to 40,000," Olander says.

On the cards are plans to extend the China Africa Project to include a French and Arabic edition so that it has a pan-African presence. "My dream is to take a sabbatical from work, preferably with a cushy journalism fellowship, so that I can build the Chinese, Arabic and French editions of the podcast, micro-blog and social media community," he says.

In terms of how his followers see China-Africa relations, Olander says that Africans approach the subject with far more nuances than Westerners do.

"Westerners possess a very high level of skepticism toward both China's motives in Africa and African governments. It almost seems as if their minds are made up regardless of what happens.

"Africans and others from across the developing world tend to see things in a far more pragmatic manner."

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/10/2014 page7)