MCLC: China silences talent shows

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Rya Butterfield <rya.butterfield at gmail.com>
Subject: China silences talent show
***********************************************************

Source: Behind the Wall, NBC News (7/26/13):
http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/26/19699246-china-silences-a
merican-style-tv-talent-shows

China silences American-style TV talent shows
By Le Li

BEIJING – Television singing contests have been curtailed by Chinese
censors who claim the country has too many of the American Idol-style
shows.

The country’s state broadcasting regulator issued a new policy Friday
banning satellite channels from producing any more singing contests.

It echoes the enforced demise of “Super Girl,” a singing contest for
female contestants which became a phenomenon in China in 2004.

That was blamed by commentators on official discomfort at Western-style
audience voting.

On its official website, the State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television (SARFT) posted a notice saying shows that had already been
produced but not yet aired should be “postponed”.

Produced by Hunan Satellite Television, it was eventually ordered off air
in 2011 by SARFT, which claimed the program was over-running its time slot
too frequently - an accusation that did not add up for most Chinese
viewers.

Instead, popular rumors surmised that the state’s own Chinese Central
Television (CCTV) was angered by the show’s huge ratings. At its 2005
peak, “Super Girl” delivered 400 million viewers to Hunan.

It also attracted up to nine million telephone votes from audience members
for their favorite singers – an exercise in democracy that is sharply at
odds with the China’s Communist political system.

Economic Observer, a Beijing newspaper, commented at the time of Super
Girl’s demise that audience voting could be the government’s main concern,
The Economist noted <http://www.economist.com/node/21530166>.
Friday’s SARFT announcement said: “No more new singing contest shows
should be produced by any satellite TV stations.

“Programs which have been produced but not broadcast should be postponed
to avoid the summer high season, and those which are already airing should
reschedule their broadcasting times to avoid similar programs showing at
the same time.”

The policy targets the huge number of audience-voting talent shows
starting up this summer.

Currently, there are nine similar series on air and three more are
scheduled to be broadcast in the next two months. On Sunday, 11 programs
are broadcasting on the same day, including reruns of previous episodes.

Most are based on US or UK formats. “Chinese Idol” is based on “American
Idol”, “Voice China” is the Chinese version of “The Voice”, and “Chinese
Duets” originates from “The Duets”.

While some Chinese web commentators agreed that singing contests had come
to dominate the schedules, many are cynical about SARFT’s motivation.

Fans celebrate after Li Yuchun was declared winner of the 2005 Super Girl
contest finals, in Shanghai.

Blogger Wang Rui wrote: “SARFT is always manipulating when it see a local
station that has higher rating than Central China Television. I miss Super
Girl”.

Nalan, a popular blogger who has 254,000 followers, pointed out that all
China’s TV stations broadcast the same news program for half an hour,
starting at 7pm.

He asked: “To avoid similar programs at the same time, does that mean they
are going to change 7pm CCTV news?”

Long Minfei, a columnist with Life News, appeared to speak for many in
China when he wrote: “SARFT extends its hands too far. Just leave the
control to the public. The public will switch their remote controls if the
program is not good.”

Despite the SARFT announcement, TV stations have not been given
instructions directly.

Zhejiang satellite TV, which produces a show called “Voice China”, said it
had no plans to change its schedule.

“I do not know about other stations but I can say the new policy is not
going to affect Voice China,” said a chief editor who gave only his family
name, Bao, as is customary when interviewed by foreign media.

Hunan Satellite Television made a statement on its website that the
schedule of its singing contest program will remain the same.

Hans Steinmuller, a China anthropologist at the London School of
Economics, said the popularity of talent shows and their contestants may
have irked officials.

“Most of the Communist party hierarchy doesn’t really have any culture to
speak of, so it is logical that they would seek to limit popular culture,”
he said.

“Voting on these programs is very popular, just like all social media. On
the train you constantly hear the ping and vibration of phone alerts.

“It was said at the time that voting was the reason why Super Girl ended,
but I don’t know if that is the government’s real concern. It allows
democratic voting – although only at the lowest, village, level.”

Madeline Earp a research fellow at Freedom House, an independent civil
liberties watchdog, said SARFT had often targeted popular entertainment
shows in the past.

“In 2012 it was Korean and Japanese dramas that were extremely popular.
They say that they want to increase diversity of programming, to improve
the moral tone. But I think they’ve identified that since satellite TV has
become more popular in China, the media has become more diverse. This is a
real threat to the state media and CCTV, so they are trying to manipulate
what is available during prime-time programming…. So it’s a control
mechanism.”

She added that banning programs had backfired in the past.

“There has been a very critical response to these measures, but even in
news outlets that are affiliated with the state,” she said.

“It makes (the party) look bad. It makes them look out of touch. The more
they do this type of thing the more people will realize quite how far
reaching state control of information is and the more likely they are to
look for ways around it.”

NBC News' Li Tian, Alastair Jamieson and Henry Austin contributed to this
story.