China: The Covid-19 Story: Unmasking China’s Global Strategy

A second global survey of affiliate unions of the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) at the conclusion of 2020 indicates
that China has used the Covid-19 pandemic to boost its image in
global media coverage.
More than half of all countries said that coverage of China
in their national media was more positive since the start of the
pandemic. The percentage of nations reporting China to have
a visible presence in their media ecosystems was up from 64
percent to 76 percent in a year. Beijing appears to be taking a
more interventionist approach, with almost one in five countries
reporting that the Chinese embassy or ambassador in their
country frequently comments on local media coverage of China.
More than eighty percent of countries expressed concern about
disinformation in their national media. Although China was
cited by over a third as responsible for the uptick, 58 percent of
countries were unsure of where disinformation originated.