MCLC: China cuts down on vulgar foreign tv shows

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: China cuts down on vulgar foreign tv shows
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Source: Asia Times (2/24/12):
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NB24Ad01.html

China cuts down the foreign fun
By Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore

BEIJING - Imported television shows watched by millions will be canned
during China's prime "golden time" hours, the government announced last
week. Last month, popular prime-time entertainment programs were slashed
by two-thirds. This was after programs featuring time travel were all but
banned last year. 

In the latest signs of an escalating clampdown on entertainment in China,
the television broadcast regulator has declared that "vulgar" foreign
television shows - which mostly hail from Asia - will be barred 7-10 pm.

The newest rules aim to boost China's domestic television industry,
forcing audiences away from Asian competition towards local shows. Many
feel that the move is also an attempt to protect state-run China Central
Television (CCTV), known for its stiff evening news and stale dramas.

The incapacitating series of regulations were felt most keenly in October
when the industry watchdog, the State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television (SARFT), announced a cap on mass-watched "entertainment" shows,
which were declared pure "poison" by one official.

By the end of last year, China's 34 satellite channels had cut the number
of entertainment shows - largely spin-offs of Western hits such as
American Idol and Top Gear - from 126 to just 38 during the prime-time
hours, marking a 69% decrease. The ban came into effect officially on
January 1. 

In the place of the rags to riches singing competitions and sassy dating
shows which have proliferated under China's enterprising provincial
television channels, SARFT stated that each channel must air "morality
building" programs weekly. Talent contents will be limited to just 10
nationwide per year.

"SARFT does not want provincial TV to pose a threat to the national
influence of CCTV. So they have stopped many programs," says Dr Grace
Leung, a visiting scholar at Beijing's Tsinghua University who specializes
in television regulation.

In the latest rules, announced last Monday, all foreign shows - which are
mainly sourced from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea - must
pass state approval.

"TV series that contain vulgar and violent scenes should not be imported,"
stated China Daily, adding that "severe punishments" will be handed out to
channels who violate the new rules.

According to the state-run newspaper, the regulations will help create a
"favorable environment for TV shows made by companies on the Chinese
mainland". 

Propaganda over profit remains a crucial concern for SARFT, which
functions under the propaganda arm of the Communist Party. Pushing the
party creed over the competitiveness of the television industry as a whole
remains paramount. 

"With more than 96 or 97% of the total population [tuning in], TV is still
the most influential vehicle for propaganda. One of SARFT's major tasks is
ideological control," says Leung.

"There is concern whether [satellite stations] are doing the correct job
to educate their audience rather than provide entertainment alone. So
profit making is not a primary concern for them - they would prefer to
stick to their original task of educating and propaganda to prevent
controversial issues arising," she adds.

Programs that have felt the full force of the state truncheon over the
past year include the highly marketable "time-travel" genre, in which
characters travel back in time to different dynasties.

In September, SARFT suspended Super Girl, a Pop Idol spin-off. At its peak
it generated 400 million messages. Further victims include the dating show
If You Are The One, which, although still running, has curtailed its more
salacious elements in favor of heavy-handed moral messages.

"The cycle of tightening and loosening up is nothing new in China," says
Ying Zhu, author of Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central
Television. "Obviously the tightening up cannot last long when the issue
of bread and butter is at stake. The real clash is between the mandate of
a Chinese cultural tradition dictated by morality and the demand of a
market system dictated by profit."

The newest regulations, however, might backfire. Internet users in China
now number over 500 million and many people are switching off their
television sets in favor of finding entertainment on their smart phones
and laptops, where censorship is less pervasive and the state has less
hold. 

"Only people like my mother-in-law would watch [programs] on TV and now
even she has switched to the Internet," says Raymond Zhou, 49, a
Beijing-based newspaper columnist and social critic. "These regulations
are going to drive more and more young people away from television,
because they are leaving anyway. You are giving them the extra push - now
they leave happily."

(Inter Press Service)