MCLC: Two Billion Eyes review

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Michael Keane <m.keane at qut.edu.au>
Subject: Two Billion Eyes review
***********************************************************

Source: Creative Transformations:
ttp://www.creativetransformations.asia/2013/01/book-review-two-billion-eyes
/

Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television
by Ying Zhu. The New Press, New York
Review by Michael Keane

 
For most people CCTV is associated with surveillance cameras. However, for
people living in China CCTV is the English acronym of China Central
Television (zhongyang dianshitai), the broadcasting monolith that has
dominated life since the late 1970s (it was previously called Beijing TV).
In fact, overtones of surveillance, control and political cronyism are
never far from the surface in international accounts of China’s state
broadcaster.

In Two Billion Eyes Ying Zhu, a professor of media studies now living in
New York, gets inside the machine. This is a remarkable book in many
respects and should be read by all who want to understand the changing
face of China’s media. Zhu brings to the surface the complexities and
contradictions of CCTV. In the introduction she tells us that CCTV remains
little known, largely opaque to international observers and equally
mysterious for many Chinese. In a similar vein to Georgina Born’s
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncertain-Vision-Birt-Dyke-Reinvention/dp/00994289
38> account of the problems within the BBC, Ying Zhu delves into the
layers of power enveloping CCTV, bringing out some surprising admissions
from her interviewees, most of whom still work at CCTV, or are former
employees.

The result is a compelling—and at times sympathetic account of the
challenges facing Chinese journalists and content producers, including
much self-reflection by interviewees on their personal responsibility to
the national cause. Ying Zhu writes ‘I understood what went through the
minds of some of my Chinese interviewees…My empathy brought mutual trust
which helped to break the ice.’

The format of Two Billion Eyes is a series of interviews with CCTV
personnel, past and present; this forms the substantive content which is
bookended by two chapters: the first called ‘Television as cultural
control in China’ and a final conclusion ‘China Central Television and the
Chinese Model.’ These two chapters allow Ying Zhu to stand at critical
distance. The first chapter provides necessary background for readers not
familiar with China’s media, in particular the role of the Propaganda
Department and SARFT (the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV). The
final chapter is less sanguine about CCTV’s operations than what we find
in some of the interviews. It gets beyond the ripples of discontent
expressed by interviewees and points to the ominous resurgence of
nationalism, glossed over as Chinese exceptionalism.

This book is a first in many respects. Western journalists and media
scholars have been complicit in constructing an image of impenetrability,
and promoting a stereotype of the Chinese journalist as a cog in the wheel
of the political apparatus. Certainly there is a degree of truth: this was
the case in the past. Many of CCTV’s employees were appointed through
political connections. Nowadays cronyism has been replaced by a new
managerialism that favours talent scouted on a contract system depending
on the nature of projects.

But even political functionaries have interesting stories to tell. There
is a good deal of intrigue and a few backhanders. Ying Zhu elicits these
comments and deftly weaves them into the narrative of a broadcaster
struggling to cope with reform and competition.

Much of the book is given over to lengthy interviews. We hear peoples’
stories verbatim, followed by deeper analysis of the nature of the system.
The book begins with Yang Weiguang, a central character in the narrative.
Yang was the person chosen in 1985 to oversee CCTV’s transition from a
stodgy propaganda institution to a modern media enterprise. Yang’s own
words tell how he changed a public institution designed to educate into a
ratings champion looking for ways to be innovative. The second chapter
continues with Yang’s story, and that of his successor Zhao Huayong. By
the time Zhao’s tenure was completed, CCTV had transformed: it had more
specialty channels, it was reaching out to the world, and it was seeking
out talent, both from within China and from overseas. CCTV’s leaders
wanted it to become more like CCN and the BBC, although with one important
caveat: it had to remain the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party.

One of the reasons for CCTV’s success in the past is its monopoly over
news. In chapter three we are provided with a close up account of the rise
and fall of News Probe, a magazine-style format that was backed by Yang
Weiguang. Zhu speaks with the producer Zhang Jie about the precarious
balance between being a ‘mouthpiece’ and digging up the truth about
corruption and abuses of power.

Chapter four introduces the reader to three different styles of news
anchors, Bai Yansong, Jing Yidan, and Cui Yongyuan. Bai’s comments about
commercialisation are revealing, seeing it as a positive counterforce to
state control. These views are hardly what one would expect from a loyal
servant of the state but these are the kinds of admissions Ying Zhu is
able to solicit. Bai is also surprisingly honest about the limitations of
CCTV as a news network. For instance he says CCTV needs to become an
authoritative voice in news programming before it can claim to be a
competitor with CNN.

Unlike its rival provincial broadcasters CCTV has not been so successful
in game shows, although it has successfully copied a number of
international formats. In a chapter entitled the ‘cultivated and the
vulgar’ Ying Zhu engages in candid discussion with Li Yong, the ‘king of
entertainment’ on CCTV, and Wan Wei, the producer of The Lecture Room. The
discussions tell us a lot about the conflicts between commercial reality
and the mission of enlightening the audience. It is also clear that the
interviewees take some pleasure in being interviewed by Zhu, knowing that
their views will be made known to a global audience.

Another fascinating chapter is about CCTV’s finance and economics channel.
The pressure of producing ratings pushed producers to adopt game shows
such as Happy Dictionary, a clone of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and
Lucky 52, a copy of Go Bingo, the latter hosted by the charismatic Li
Yong. By 2009, the channel had moved back to its core strengths, namely
finance and economics, with game shows shunted to CCTV3.

One of the highlights of this chapter is an extended interview with Ren
Xuan, the producer of The Rise of the Powerful Nations, a documentary
program that tapped into the underlying aspiration for Chinese soft power.
 Comparisons with River Elegy, a controversial documentary about China’s
problems broadcast prior to the Tiananmen Square massacre, form the
subject of a discussion with celebrated producer Xia Jun.

Two chapters are devoted to CCTV’s attempt to internationalise and its
domestic competition, particularly from the southern broadcaster Hunan
Satellite TV. This leads to a very interesting analysis of China’s soft
power ambitions, sometimes called ‘going out.’  CCTV has made an attempt
to get into the minds of overseas viewers by distributing its mandarin
language channel 4 and its English language channel 9 on overseas cable
networks, usually in exchange for providing reciprocal landing rights in
southern Guangdong province.

The chapter devotes a lot of attention to Yang Rui, the host of Dialogue,
a talk show on CCTV 9 that deals with international and local issues,
often finding domestic commentators who like to be critical of the West
and international guests willing to make concessions to Chinese culture
for its ways of managing conflict. Zhu notes how several interviewees
constantly make the point that China has to be understood, not through
Western comparisons, but through comparisons with its own history and
culture. Oftentimes this is a convenient way out of difficult questions
pertaining to democratisation.

The remainder of this chapter turns to Hunan Satellite Television, CCTV’s
most high profile competitor, well known for its entertainments formats,
in particular the talent showSuper Girls, a clone of the Idol format. In
an interview with Hunan boss Ouyang Changling it becomes clear that the
southern broadcaster is not making as much capital as many observers
think. Ouyang is critical of the market in China and the waste of
resources due to so many look alike satellite TV channels (STVs); he is
critical of Beijing’s administrative heavy hand and the need to get
approval for each program.

Ouyang also takes aim at the lack of copyright protection in the TV
industry, complaining that Hunan’s formats are rapidly cloned by its
competitors. This is somewhat ironic when one realises that Hunan’s own
success was built on cloning overseas TV formats. In fact, when I was
researching TV formats in China in 2005 I was contacted by a Chinese
lawyer for the Dutch company Endemol to seek advice about how to deal with
Hunan’s blatant infringing of their IP. According to Hugo de Burgh, Zeng
Rong and Chen Siming the tune changed when a delegation of Hunan producers
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=13505/> spent
time at the BBC a few years ago examining the workings of the TV format
business.

Chapter 10 looks at Half the Sky, a women’s program that broke new ground
by moving beyond the usual practice of selecting and celebrating role
models. The penultimate chapter takes up the topic of the Beijing Olympics
and the new nationalism. One gets a sense that the CCTV narrative is
starting to get darker: this is where Ying Zhu is able to make some
telling observations about the relationship between the state and the
media, ‘more accurately characterized as an ongoing negotiation than as a
contest between mutual antagonists.’

In a final concluding chapter Zhu summarises what she has gleaned from her
time talking with insiders, trying to piece together the CCTV jigsaw.  She
arrives at three interesting conclusions; first CCTV is a microcosm of
Chinese-style capitalism; second, there is a commonly held view within the
organisation that China’s culture and history make it exceptional; and
third, employees in the system have faith in the traditional Chinese
concept of sage leadership.

Zhu expands on these points, showing how and why CCTV has become the
dominant media organisation in China and illustrating how future reform is
more about pushing the envelope than drastic change. It’s a pessimistic
note to finish on and will no doubt help balance a perception among some
reviewers that the book does not engage in enough critical analysis of the
control state.  In fact, if one reads carefully the difficulties are
precisely articulated: the frustrations, the Chinese walls, the
bureaucracy, and limits to creativity. This is not the free west; this is
not the BBC: this is China Central Television. Years ago the interviewees
would not have been able to speak to a ‘western’ scholar about internal
workings.

Two Billion Eyes is an engrossing account of CCTV. It’s highly readable
and hard to put down. Taking into account the complexity of balancing both
sides I believe it will be adjudged over time to be the best book on
China’s media. There will be political hardheads who no doubt will
criticise the approach of asking Chinese media practitioners for their
views. But this is why this book makes more sense than most academic
monographs. Two Billion Eyes will be required reading on all university
media courses, not just courses on China’s media. In addition, it will be
a valuable guide for foreign media practitioners and business owners
looking to understand the mysteries of the Chinese media system.