The 2nd Silk Road Global News Awards were announced at the 2025 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road held in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, on September 16 2025.
Austin Maho, a Nigerian journalist and publisher of Daybreak.ng and Daybreak Nigeria newspaper, emerged as a winner of the long list award for his article: ‘Fake News and the Challenges of Reporting China’.
According to a statement by the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN), all awards were initially evaluated by the academic committee, finalised by the judging committee, and then approved by the members of the BRNN Council.
The award winning report by Austin Maho is an in-depth analysis of the problem of fake news and how it affects the objective and fair report of the Belt and Road projects in Africa. The article was published in the Daybreak Nigeria of October 5, 2024.
The article dispels misinterpretation and fake news about Chinese involvement in Africa. Negative labelling and perception of the Chinese by drawing on common misconceptions that are prevalent in African media most inspired by Western narratives.
The article highlights that China, like Africa, suffers from a skewed flow of information that favours Western perspectives to the detriment of the Global South. This biased media control has created misleading portrayals of China and BRI projects, including exaggerated claims such as the so-called “debt-trap diplomacy” and false reports about forced labour, and other conspiracies related to China-Africa relations.
He emphasised the significant consequences of fake news, such as misinformation about China and Chinese people, fueling negative propaganda, conspiracy theories, and distrust in media. The article calls for journalists and media professionals, particularly in Africa and developing countries, to act responsibly by verifying information through credible sources and avoiding uncritical reproduction of Western media narratives. Dr. Maho stressed the importance of objective and balanced reporting to foster understanding, collaboration, and South-South solidarity rather than suspicion and fear.
He critiqued the Western media’s portrayal of China’s growing influence, especially through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which is negatively framed despite its positive role in infrastructure development, trade connectivity, people to people relations, among others.
The article urged African journalists to be vigilant against misinformation and disinformation, promote media literacy, and inspire hope by narrating the real China beyond biased stereotypes.
