China’s influence has continued to saturate the media of Australia’s northern neighbour, with public and private broadcasters alike found to disseminate Chinese narratives.
Recent research detailing Chinese efforts to dominate global media outlets would come as no surprise to many in Australia’s national security ecosystem, with US-based think tank Freedom House detailing that 18 from 30 of the world’s democracies have seen an increase in Chinese influence operations over the media.
Influence actions have included intimidation of journalists, dissemination of government written news content and social media manipulation.
Professor Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, one of the academics who helped compile Freedom House’s findings on Chinese influence, detailed in the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter this week the extent to which the CCP is influencing Indonesian outlets.