China, Pakistan to set up a media house to counter western narratives: Report

To counter the West-centric narrative of media, China and Pakistan are reportedly working on setting up a media organisation. The countries will also collectively set up a television channel with the goal to achieve “information dominance”.

China and Pakistan hope to kickstart a new media house with a global reach to “propel amenable narratives”, a media report from India said citing unnamed sources. China has reportedly agreed to fund the organisation which could be set up in Pakistan.

It’s notable that Pakistan has attempted something similar before. In 2019, the country tried to launch an English TV channel in collaboration with Turkey and Malaysia to change the mainstream narrative of Islam. But this project never took off. Turkey and Malaysia did not show enough interest, following which there was reportedly no correspondence from Pakistan.

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The reports come in during a historic shift in China's foreign policy in the aftermath of Covid pandemic, which has shaken the global faith in China. On May 31, Chinese President Xi Jinping focused on the need for creating a “trustworthy” image for the country across the globe, a shift from its signature defensive diplomacy.

During the politburo meeting, Jinping urged officials to help China “make friends extensively” in a bid to garner global support. In addition, the Chinese leader called on the country to become “open and confident”, while also staying “modest and humble”.

The Indian media report claimed that the platform will be used by the leadership of both countries to expand their goals and to correct the global projected image of both countries. Even though China has not directly linked itself to the organisation, the funding itself may be able to explain country’s interest in global optics, it cited sources as saying.

China wants to compete with Western countries in terms of “information dominance” and is seeking a stronger grip on narrative building.

Social media in China operates very differently from the rest of the world. This means that most critique of the country does not emanate from its citizens for they don’t have access to global portals like Twitter and Facebook. The country, in collaboration with Pakistan seems to be eyeing ways to bridge this gap. With the US and China constantly battling it out for technological dominance, it seems manufacturing an acceptable narrative is on the cards next.