Hu comes first; leaders lead on CCTV "News"

By Hugh Jorgen

I'm always amused to watch the responses of recently-arrived foreigners in China when the subject of CCTV International comes up. For those of you not familiar with it, CCTV International (CCTV 9) is the state-run English-language television station operated by China Central Television, which also operates several other such stations, most of which are in Chinese. Among the program lineup on CCTV 9, you'll find regular live editions of CCTV News. For many foreigners living in China, CCTV 9 is one of the few English-language TV stations they have access to. While some of the programs are quite good, CCTV News could use a major overhaul. The frustration it generates among foreigners is fairly consistent. "It's just propaganda," they often complain. "That's right," I respond. After a few more moments of watching their blood pressure rise as they recount recent viewing disappointments, I offer to explain the source of their frustration. What usually throws them off is the use of the word "News". Just because the program has the word "News" in its title, I explain, doesn't mean they are actually presenting news, at least not in the Western sense. It soon dawns on them that their suspicions were right: CCTV is simply a mouthpiece for the Chinese government. "News" coverage, and all that usually entails, has very little to do with the mandate of CCTV.

The devastating earthquake in Sichuan is a classic example of the CCTV approach to covering such events. On a Monday evening newscast, the first couple of minutes of content did not actually provide any specifics of the catastrophe. By this point, the actual official death toll was around 8,000 and climbing, with thousands injured and an untold amount of damage done. But no one watching this particular newscast would get specific details about the massive scope of this emerging disaster till several minutes in. Instead, viewers were told about what the Chinese leaders were doing in response to the earthquake. This, of course, is standard procedure at the state-run broadcaster. Forget about the standard journalistic procedure of answering the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. The lead in any such story at state-run media is always about the leadership - in other words, Hu and Wen first - always - then maybe all those other questions later on. Last night, for example, the lead story on the disaster was about what President Hu Jintao was doing. It was the usual item about "directing rescue officials to work all out" and "urging rescuers to spare no effort, etc." In the second story, viewers were treated to comments from Premier Wen Jiabao aboard a jet as he headed for Sichuan province. In a sound bite that lasted less than 60 seconds, Premier Wen managed to promote the CCP no less than three times as he read from a prepared script: "lead the people", "strong leadership" and "I believe that under the leadership of the CCP and the State Council, the people and the army will unite," were his English translated phrases of inspiration to the victims and their families. Curiously, despite his seemingly effusive concern about the victims, there was no mention of anything like "our thoughts and condolences go out to the victims and their families in their hour of need," - the usual PR'd response from politicians in the early stages of such disasters.

In fact, it wasn't until about 2-3 minutes into the newscast that the actual details of this massive tragedy started to emerge. And despite the fact that the earthquake had struck a full eight hours earlier, there were still no live reports from CCTV reporters. Viewers had to settle for pre-recorded phone interviews from a couple of reporters from other media outlets who gave scant details in fully-scripted responses.

For regular viewers of CCTV, this game plan is dejavu all over again. A couple of months earlier, the government dusted off the same playbook for its coverage of the snow storm that pounded southern China. (Also known as "Snow Job 2008")

These are classic examples of the CCTV philosophy, which could probably be summed up as "No matter how severe the disaster, there is always an opportunity to promote the Party, and while doing so, remind people who's in control".

The lesson for foreign viewers is simple: as long as you don't actually expect news from CCTV News, you are much less likely to be let down. That's how the CCP puts the control in "damage control".

Hugh Jorgen works in state-run media. Zhongnanhai welcomes submissions at cam@zhongnanhaiblog.com.