MOSCOW, Nov. 1 -- On the opening day of the Russia-Africa Media Forum, Rossiya Segodnya, the state-owned group behind Sputnik, convened African university leaders to discuss journalism education. The group also signed a memorandum with an Ethiopian university that day, a sign that Moscow wants its media diplomacy to outlast the summit that followed.

The thesis is straightforward. Russia is trying to make journalism training and content exchange the lasting layer of its Africa partnership, while arguing that Western outlets distort that relationship. Whether African institutions read this as partnership or promotion is the question the forum left open.

The session, held on October 26 under the title "Rectors' Dialogue," asked how journal...