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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING – Satellite broadcasters in China have cut their entertainment programming – including dating and reality shows – by two-thirds this week in order to comply with a new government edict.
The State Administration of Film Radio and Television, or SARFT, China’s highest media watchdog, announced the new rule in October – but it just came into effect Jan. 1. The number of entertainment shows airing during primetime has been cut from 126 to 38, according to the watchdog.
Apparently the ruling Communist Party is not happy with the proliferation of dating and talent shows that have become extremely popular in China over the last few years.
“Super Girl,” a copycat of “American Idol” by Hunan Satellite TV, started airing in 2004. It became the second most popular program in the country, behind only China Central TV (CCTV)’s prime-time news. During its final contest in August 2005, the show attracted about 9 million votes from the audience members for their favorite singers.
But that record was quickly surpassed by the sassy reality show “If You Are The One.” As the country’s most popular dating program, it broke viewership records in 2010 – more than 50 million people tuned in. It has made couch potatoes out of young and old who are glued to the TV every Saturday and Sunday night.
The success of those shows launched a whole series of similar “entertainment” programs, such as Shanghai OTV’s “Let’s Shake It” and “China’s Got Talent.” Many other provincial satellite TV channels soon followed suit, attracting millions of viewers, as well as ad dollars.
But now, the state media watchdog has said, enough is enough.
'What’s next, to become North Korea?'
“Why do they do that? If they want to brainwash people, why can’t they just let people have some fun? What’s next, to become North Korea?” asked Yvonne Kwan, the mother of a 6-year-old daughter.
Yvonne doesn’t watch that much TV, but she thinks the new rule isn't smart. “The audiences are used to what they watch. If you stop selling coffee to coffee drinkers and sell other drinks to them, they’ll only look for coffee somewhere else. These people will just go to Internet to watch the shows online,” she said.
Some critics say the recent restrictions are just another stab at stifling freedom of speech. The policy comes on the heels of another new rule that citizens must register with their real identities, not false names, on Weibo, a Twitter-like, but government-controlled, microblogging service.
The new restrictions came into effect just as President Hu Jintao published an essay in a Communist Party policy magazine earlier this week lashing out against the influence of Western culture. In the essay he stressed, “We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of Westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration.”
Hu emphasized that the country must be on high alert for these nefarious forces. “We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond.”
What's really behind the clampdown? Money
Wang Xiaofeng, a senior culture reporter and Internet observer, doesn’t think Hu’s speech will have any impact.
“The cultural industry can be very profitable, much more profitable than selling TV sets. But it can easily awaken people,” Wang told NBC News in a phone interview. He was critical of the idea that the Chinese can suddenly start developing media with the same sophistication of the West.
“If you want to develop movie industry for example, you have to set up your hardware and see how it’s done in those developed countries. Then you realize how other people live. The Communist Party has abandoned the tradition already; now they can’t just pick it up and use it to challenge the West. Even their own people don’t believe in it,” Wang said.
He attributed the clampdown on entertainment programs to a colder economic calculus.
“Why do they have to cut the shows? These are not some vulgar or extreme shows. These provincial TV programs are attracting more commercials, and CCTV is losing them. They need the cash from commercials back.”
But he also suggested the changes may be for other realpolitik reasons. “It also has something to do with the power reshuffle this year. The old cake has already been cut and shared; now it’s time for the new cake in cultural industry.”
SARFT is well known for its irregular and not-much-explained crackdown on media. It allows 20 foreign movies to be imported to China every year and tightly controls the publication of all movies, books, magazines and TV programs.
But as much as Chinese people criticize the watchdog's strict oversight, they never fuss too long, because they have a very pragmatic solution – pirated publications.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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“Why do they have to cut the shows? These are not some vulgar or extreme shows. These provincial TV programs are attracting more commercials, and CCTV is losing them. They need the cash from commercials back.”
Ding ding ding, and we have our answer.
Who cares? That's their problem.
We Americans are innovative, open for change, and figure out things that ding. I would just look back our way and mind our own way of life.
God bless America
We would be doing real well in cutting all these useless "reality BS shows". What an insult to intelligence these things are!!!! They show America at it's dumbest in HD. There is nothing innovative with this garbage.
Not a good advertisement for this country.
It just shows why we don't share technology with China and they must steal it.
Even the Chinese know that Jersey Shore is Bulls**T
@gdvegas, I could not agree more. I am amazed that any of that crap is still on TV. @Derek-381097, I am absolutely shocked and amazed that worthless Piece of Sh!t is on the air. I can not for the life of me, figure out the losers who watch that pathetic crap, My girlfriend is Italian, and these freaking idiots do nothing but give American/Italians a bad name.
After one episode of those disfunctional idiots on Jersey Shore or The Krashdashians, I'd ban it too!
I'm Hopeful they won't want to come here to watch their shows, just when I thought China was on the road to a more openly free society.
it's because the people are voting....
@Fact,
The story is a bit more complicated than that. The Chinese do something that is not done here with their extremely detailed 5-year plans. The whole country is run on them.
But in terms of TV and radio, the 5-year plans aim for a specific mix of news, government cheerleading, education (especially history), and entertainment. What they are apparently trying to do with the TV control is to keep all the advertising money from being sucked out of the system by reality shows and other popular, albeit lowbrow, shows which they only consider to be a thin slice of a small slice. By limiting those types of shows, they force advertisers to support, as just one example, the numerous shows that teach English and western music.
I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with their actions, I'm just saying that these are not cruel despots who are killing personal freedom by placing limits on "China's Got Talent" but rather people who are sitting down and trying to create programming that is balanced enough that advertising revenues do not dry up for some segments that they consider important such as cultural preservation.
Only Americans would see their liberty threatened by restricting the Chinese version of "The Dating Game."
Roll Tide!
Oh those Chinese Communists...they are such lovable rascals. First, Mao wipes out 20 million of his own people. Then, the cultural revolution robs China of its best talent. Later, hundreds if not thousands of pro-democracy students are massacred in Tiananmen Square. Now, western-style TV gets snuffed. What will those little control freaks think of next?
The story is a bit more complicated than that. The Chinese do something that is not done here with their extremely detailed 5-year plans. The whole country is run on them.
I have family in the Chinese Communist Party btw, I know this.
The answer to most of the issues lately is about money. No one cares about personal freedom, what they care about is money.
The world does not need a Chinese version of Snooki
“We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of Westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration.”
China is afraid of Snooki and the Kardashians...
HarHarHar!!!
Dude, the only thing that I want from China, is my old Manufacturing job. But not at FoxConn, you can keep that suicidal causing company for yourselves. I have no attempts at influencing your people. Now MY government on the other hand...
Those Communist Chinese LOVE those western dollars, but the freedom - Ehhhh-Not so much! Imagine what it would be like if China was totally free from the cabal of 100 or so people who run the country!
Freedom is about ensuring that our kids can watch "American Idol" now?
Ha! You think that today America is any different? Naïve.
Considering we have people whining about who you can and can't marry and who can and cannot build religious structures, you're worried about TV shows overseas? Hah.
Rocky, with the NDAA and SOPA, I'd say they have as much freedom as we do.
More power to them. TV in the US has hit rock bottom. Incessant strings of overly aggressive ads, repeated over and over. As may as 18 in a row. Sex and violence in everything save the AMC channel. It has become a total waste land. No cultural value just agenda after agenda. It's okay to lie on TV because it's only entertainment ? Tried to have the cable co remove the TV portion of the cable bundle and was told it would cost more with out the TV service in the bundle. I have no problem with Progress but we are in a race to the bottom as far as the media is concerned. This includes Radio and internet as well. In a word it's "Disgusting" -- except for MSNBC newsvine.
I agree. What are we going to do about this?
Simple they like to control. It is illegal there to speak poorly of the cabal of businessmen whom uses china for their own self profit.
I dun no Civalwar.. just give my my ration of Grog and Gruel and I'll be a placid little sheeple.
Take some soma.
Don't like, don't watch. It's called freedom of choice.
I've watched CCTV while overseas. China provides it free of charge to whoever will carry it. It's slick, well-produced, and about as entertaining and engaging was watching paint dry.
"Sex and violence in everything save the AMC channel"
Did you miss Mad Men by any chance?
Once in a while I'll sit down to watch something special but by the time the first set of commercials are half way done I'm bored and ticked and looking for a good book or computer time. I real;ly have grown to hate the tube.
GayMuhammad banned, just got here and doing nothing but making trollish comments.
Failed audition.
Sally or another Newsvine "Toughie", While I do not mind you banning someone for comments, Why would a news source CENSOR someone's rights to free speech? I think that it is unfair to collapse ALL the comments contained in one madman's rant. Most people will call B/S when they see it or step in it. Maybe you are preparing us for what is to come in SOPA and have the Military pay us a visit ALA, NDAA. I find it hypocritical that someone who can use "Freedom of the Press" or "Free Speech" stifles one they do not agree with.
Yes, I know there are "Trolls" who will say anything for attention, but I thought we would be enlightened enough to call them out ourselves. Typical government behavior run amok into Corporate behavior. Which just proves there is NO distinction between "The Gov" and "Corp", YOU ARE ONE AND THE SAME.
I'd say they are on the right track, I wish they would cut most of these reality shows here in the U.S. Rather than providing the audience anything remotely informative, they only provide a stage for a bunch of attention-hungry, fame-whoring (excuse the language) people who do nothing positive for our society. Most of American reality shows are overfilled with sex or violence, or "sexy" people being violent to each other, not to mention similar images are plastered all over ads. Is this what we want our children to be surrounded by? Who cares if the Chinese government did this for economic reasons? Look at the intended effects. For our society sanity alone, the U.S. should do the same.
If the American public would stop watching/supporting those idiotic reality shows, there would be none.
Rose as unbelievable as it may sound that is no longer the case in the big picture. There is an underlying agenda and it requires that you be grown down. Forget the logic. Your only choice is to watch or not.
I learned a long time ago that if I did not like something I did not need to support it. Just like when I was pressured by my peers to smoke, I was told I had to if I wanted to be part of "their gang". I said I did not need their gang and I sure as hell did not need hot smoke in my mouth. Commercials that are to loud, obnoxious, sexist, misleading, or plain to good to be true I make it a point NOT BUY THOSE ITEMS. I use my money to purchase things I need, not things someone else wants me to buy. "reality" shows are nothing buy STUPIDITY and lier's "glorified". I do not watch any of them, along with dancing shows, beauty contests, Oprah, Judge Judy and all that other crap. Our REAL PROBLEM is people watch this crap and "believe it is only TV" and then turn around and do exactly the same things in their daily lives. If a woman isn't a 10 she is made to feel terrible about herself, if a man can't "get it up" when he finally gets "lucky" then he has a terrible sexual problem and he needs some expensive "medicine" to make himself feel better. Advertising is the whore and we are the market, at least some of YOU are. Grow up, take responsibility for your actions, trust in yourself and your compassion for your fellow man, but do not allow anyone to shortchange you and make your best effort in all you do. You will end up doing fine, don't let anyone lie to you!!!!!
Apparently, millions of people do not agree with you, or else these shows would not be so successful. No one "should" ban them. It is up to the individual to decide whether they have value. No one is forced to watch them. No one should be forced not to, either.
Shandril is absolutely right: the issue here is not whether or not reality TV should be on the air (I don't have so much a problem with talent shows as I do with rubbish like Jersey Shore or...well, anything on MTV) but whether or not people have the personal freedom to choose whether they watch or not. I tuned into about 5 minutes of "Sex and the City" once while bored...just long enough to see why I don't watch that stuff in the first place. However, it would be a different story if I wasn't watching it because some government official told me I wasn't allowed to. This is about personal choice and being TOLD what and what not to watch rather than having the freedom to decide for ourselves. China has the control-freak routine down to a science, and they aren't doing their citizens any favors by brainwashing them.
Now they'll be deprived of all the trailer trash springer and povich shows , whining , crying in public "reality" shows etc .
Apparently Chinese TV shows haven't gotten that ridiculous yet. The general expression of my Chinese friends who saw clips of Springer/Povich shows for the first time was pure shock and disgust of their existence... that stuff would never make it on Chinese TV. I think over there they still care about quality in TV programming.
Clearly your Chinese friends are not explaining the uncivil reality of day to day life in China and how much it makes those shows look like a Miss Manners lesson. lol And "quality in TV programming"??? Sure. Propaganda and game shows and some cheaply made, derivative sitcoms. Great stuff. Why don't you move here and you'll cease being so naive.
By the way, super unbiased reporting, MSNBC. I'm sure this "Yvonne" character's comment comparing this new regulation to North Korea is so representative of the Chinese population (and not at all extreme) that she was the only person worth interviewing for this article. *Please sense sarcasm.*
Folks.. If the TV programming is targeting main main stream of America.. I got to tell you we are in deep doo doo to put it nicely.
It's gonna be hell to pay when we finally wake up from a comma we've been put in by the power brokers. Of course that will never happen.
Every dog has his Day as it is said and we have had ours. Time to step aside and applaud the next one on stage.
What an utterly useless post. You imparted no info, just a couple of sad cliches. Only thing sadder would be if you actually believed your own drivel.
For once I sympathize with the Chinese. Most of our TV programs anymore are a like a bad accident on the highway. Most slow down and just to look and see if there is blood.
Look at us! We have pregnant teens, drunken beachcombers, has-been rock stars, talentless pseudo celebrities, whiny botox rich hos and every other atypical social miscreant on TV for our consumption.
Imagine what the world thinks about us between our cable TV programming and our political idiots. I turn it off most of the time. Some channels just make me sick to even turn to them on.
What a great idea. Most of western tv is trash anyway. Not only that but we pay for tv and we still have to endure the rash of mind numbing ads. It used to be free at least. I am one step away from getting rid of my tv anyway. Radio is still free, for now.
Unless you have satellite radio
I'm surprised to find shills for the Chinese Communist party on MSNBC. I can't believe anyone would seriously support the kind of censorship we see in China. Where is your liberal minded sensibility? For once MSNBC reports on something that encourages freedom of speech and expression (try to find a conservative POV on this network) and you guys jump all over it although I shouldn't be surprised - I've always suspected that MSNBC has cultivated a subversive anti-American readership.
"I doubt anyone here would promote censorship" anybody excvept liberals that is .. I guess they were being sarcastic when they named themselves liberal .
If you don't like TV, just don't watch it. We gave up TV years ago. If there is something we really want to watch we find it on the computer.
It has been 22 years since I subscribed to cable TV. Our newest thing is Cornhole. We go out in the back yard and get a lot of talking done over a game.
The TV is connected to a computer here so we can still get our favorite episodes, Colbert, Top Chef, Big Bang Theory. There's a new show called 'Food Truck' we get from Australia, loads of smiles just listening to those Kiwi's accent.
This time I agree with China, on not liking these shows. Censorship by Govt. is a little heavy oh.
Yes, too heavy. Maybe the government thinks its citizens will become too Westernize, but its too late for that.
Yep the country will go to crap once they get reality TV, 'biggest loser' and 'People's Idol' ....Look what it's done to the west.
Best stop the rot before it starts....Jersey Shore is counter-revolutionary. Remote controls are decadent.
The people need to consult with their district/village political commissar for the correctness of viewing selections.
Keep watching TV and get more brain washed than you already are until you are brain dead from watching TV.
America is brain dead. They believe any thing they see or hear on TV.
I have seen the entertainment shows in China and they are interesting and funny. There are few programs here in the US that I like. Most I hate, especially those reality TV shows, I think they are just plain stupid. When it comes to dancing and singing programs, China has the best ones and the most beautiful women singing and dancing. What the Chinese government is doing is almost like taking away the TVs. I hope they are careful, or their population will rise again.
The Chinese haven't experienced the complete cultural cycle yet. They need to start with "Leave it to Beaver", then go to "The Patty Duke Show" then "Maynard" Then "Gilligan's Island" then "Star Trek" then The Adams Family" then "The Newhart Show" then "All in the Family" etc...leading to MTV then the cultural slide into reality. The Chinese aren't as culturally dumbed down as the Americans. I used to prefer Masterpiece Theater myself. You actually had to follow a plot line. Americans go too much for the average mind and not enough for the progressive mind. I suppose that's where the advertising dollar leads.
Those Chinese TV shows really sucked anyways. Most expats here have Sat TV to watch any US TV show or sports event, we can also stream or D/L plus watch current movies for free, no big deal at all.
Excellent Smithers, they willingly take the soma. As I predicted.
nobody forces anybody to watch TV,but I think China better get with it and let the people make their own choices.Also if your intent on being a global powerhouse,you might want to adapt some western thinking,not be paranoid about young Chinese's interest in American lifestyle.
So what of it? It is their country, their culture. Who are we to say that it would be better for them to be more like us? Why do we project our sensibilities on others? So what if their government can have such power over their media? It is the way they chose for themselves, as a culture.
American style entertainment and these reality shows are low minded trash. Good riddance if Americans don't waste their time watching such drivel, either. We are, indeed, headed towards Idiotcracy! Maybe the Chinese can prevent such idiotic waste of brain power in their country.
We may not agree with the way they govern, but, it is not ours to say.
Also, I agree with those who find much more valuable watching from the computer. I am about ready to forego the cable, all together. Internet will become the future of TV. The cable companies will have to change the product and the way it is delivered.
Of course, there will be some other ways to make hugh profits off of our "viewing pleasure". Have you noticed the increase in ads when watching on the computer? Also, the volume of the ads is different from the volume at which you were viewing. I just do not look forward to the day when the broadband has become as filled with inanity as the TV is now, the viewing in controlled by capitalist forces, and we will have to pay to subscribe to receive different media, much like we do with traditional cable TV today. Enjoy it now. It will not be too distant in the future to when we will have our internet viewing controlled by the media moguls and fat cat capitalists.
Freedom isn't a cultural thing. I hate most of the garbage on tv and don't even have one any more but I don't think I should impose my viewpoint on the millions of people who enjoy such trash. I wouldn't want my government telling me I can't watch 'so you think you can dance" (a good reality show as far as it goes) because it's mindless drivel.
Back in the 50's we had the Red Scare. Now it seems, instead of there being a "Communist in every closet" there is an American supposedly hiding there.
It amuses me to see these totalitarian governments so worried about their people being seduced by our ever-so-decadent culture. State media will tell you that life in North Korea, Iran, and China is about as close to idyllic as you can get, yet they are terrified that our gritty, "war mongering lifestyle" will confuse and tempt the population to rebel.
In the Arab world I can understand this being an issue. They've done everything humanly possible to keep women under wraps while explaining that if a woman shows skin, the men might be tempted to rape her. So I can understand Iran's fear that their people might one day learn that it's NOT OK to stone to death the woman who drove herself to the store. But China?
2013 - Jersey Shore - Shanghai. Yep, the party's over. The fat lady is singing. If the Chinese want low brow give it to them. Thousands of years of culture soon to be flushed down the crapper with the appearance of Snookie.
To all those who hate the current state of American TV and sympathize with China's ruling party's decision, you are missing the point. This isn't about ensuring quality programming. It's about censorship. Sure, it's their country, but that doesn't mean freedom lovers can't express an opinion about another country's policy. As an American in China, I can assure you that the government isn't going to do anything to improve their programming...it'll just be more propaganda and cheesy variety show drivel. I don't understand how any freedom loving America can use their detest of Jersey Shore as a reason to welcome censorship. Would you want your quality TV progamming censored just because somebody finds it distasteful? And be reminded that what the Chinese government finds distasteful isn't limited to obviously trashy shows.
Exactly, Caleb. And if we don't like what's on tv, we have the freedom to shut it off, make more cerebral choices, or rent movies by the bucketload. Freedom of choice is a beautiful thing and obviously the Chinese government is fearful of its citizens exercising choice.
But, Caleb, I don't think it can be said that we welcome censorship. It is just that we cannot set the standards for the rest of the world. We value freedom in the media in our country. Please, let us not have to go in and set them straight on this. I am so weary of us Americans thinking that we need to DO something about others in the world. Not that you are advocating that we do that. If they don't want Snookie,please let us not force it on them.
Your point that the air time will probably not be filled with more redeeming fare is a good point. I guess that they have their own brand of idiocy entertainment.
I'm not sure of China's motivation in curbing the plethora of western-style reality and entertainment television. However, if the motive of the authorities is to do away with what they see as crap, well then more power to them.
As a friend if mines wife is Chinese (born and raised in Beijing but got AWAY AND OUT OF THERE with her life and made it somehow to our USA after the Tienemann Square massacre) she told us that the Chinese gov't. will stop any form of possible awakenings to other realities as such from the west in order to maintain their grip on the mass peoples at any costs'. She also said that : 'they know also that the new younger generation cannot be fully controlled and these reforms are their last ditch efforts to do what they can to impede the personal freedoms and western influences AND STRANGLE ANY POSSIBLE COMING DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE CENSORS AND GOV'T ITSELF'. The woman knows what she is talking about for sure! She also said the 'masses will prevail in the long run'!
USMC VIET VET
hey Vet... if you want to look at strangling ideas you should talk about the schools and how they are still similar to ours its not always whats cut out its details they will leave out on on bigger issues
example from a US history book I had in Public highschool a few years ago
Iran-Contra- all it said was the US sold weapons to Iran in the section of the Hostage situation
leaving out a date, the fact that Reagan and aides were responsible, the fact that they used that money to smuggle cocaine into the US where it was sold by one Rick Ross, the fact that this money then went to Rebels in S.A. and the training of the Contras that were trained in Israel and sent into Iran some of which could still be there
I've never read a Chinese history book but my one friend said it was was the same idea but worse