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China Lauds iPhone App That Spreads Gov't Views
angry tapir writes "China's film and TV regulator has praised the growth of an iPhone application from state broadcaster CCTV as the country looks for new ways to project its political views abroad. The free iPhone app, one of a growing number from Chinese state-owned news outlets, has gained 500,000 users in the month or so since it went online and is adding 2,000 new users each day, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said in a statement on its Web site. The CCTV app has shown 'favorable performance' and proven especially popular during broadcasts of major events, such as a high-flown military parade held in Beijing last month, the statement said."
Want to keep your citizens in line, with false statements and a warped view of the world? There's an App for that.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
And this app was approved by Apple? I mean, sure, Apple can do whatever they want on their playground, I guess, even be douchebags.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Want to keep your citizens in line, with false statements and a warped view of the world? There's an App for that.
Yes, we've seen that before. Important "news" from our Dear Leader!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There's an app for that!
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
You'll burn in hell for this, Apple!
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
if MS made an iphone app it would be shouted down as 'propaganda' and tagged all sorts of horrible things.
but the chinese red army puts out an iphone app... oh. who cares.
"The UK's Heritage Minister has praised the growth of the iPlayer application from state broadcaster BBC as the Trust looks for new ways to project its political views. The free flash video streaming, one of a growing number from British state-owned news outlets, has gained 500,000 users in the month or so since it went online and is adding 2,000 new users each day, the BBC Trust said in a statement on its Web site. The iPlayer app has shown 'favorable performance' and proven especially popular during broadcasts of major events, such as a recent royal funeral, the statement said."
But I guess "Chinese government streams television network to iPhones" wouldn't be nearly as fetching.
...And nothing of value was gained?
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
I thought people were in agreement that Chinese iPhone sales were dismal?
No smoking sigs indoors.
Has ./ gone sensational?
New Flash:
Microsoft Decries EU Decision...
Judge Slams Anonymous Poster...
"The government statement also said promotion of the CCTV app on Apple's Web site in China was helpful for its user growth. The Apple site includes the CCTV and China Daily products on a list of recommended apps. "
A red Apple, a hammer and a sickle...why do they operate in groups of three? One can read, one can write and one to keep an eye on the two intellectuals.
Yeah, right. Next you're going to tell me that NPR isn't part of a vast left-wing conspiracy controlled by Barack Obama and Big Bird! (Big Bird is a euphemism for Bill Clinton.)
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
So Apple has rejected apps that are "political" (an app about the cost of health care, for one), but they're fine with a Chinese government propaganda app?
Apple supports Communism.
Support America.
Get a PC.
"Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people. With one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!"
...now delivered to millions on an iPhone.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
Now, you just have to report on the citizens to the feds, pay for the bullets to kill those that want their freedom, and then you can join the ranks of Yahoo and Microsoft in helping communism. And you can make a pretty penny in doing it.
Not sure why anyone would be shocked by this.
From Here
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
That's what Monica called Bill, anyway.
China has several iphones clones that appear to now run the same apps. So, shortly sales of iphone clones will overwhelm iphones sales with the gov. approval.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Chinese Propaganda, yup, we got an app for that!
that they are getting 2000 new subscribers a day...because they are forced to.
I suppose they could also claim that millions are becoming communists too (birth rate, you know).
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
Hasn't Apple blocked apps for political reasons? Shouldn't this app be blocked then? Honestly, I'm surprised that it wasn't required to be included on the device.
One never knows when one might need a rotten tomato... - King's Quest IV: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
Wow. I remember Yahoo, Google and others getting flak from /. crowd for 'succumbing' to the chinese govt pressure and 'censuring' information. But here, Apple goes a step ahead and actually promotes Chinese propaganda and it's kudos to Apple??
Way to go, fanbois, way to go.
You have to realise a few things. For one, even though it is biased coverage (just like every American news channel) China has every right to make an iPhone app just like the BBC has every right too also. And for the record, Microsoft did make an iPhone app called Seadragon that let you view and scale large images. And while there were a few jokes it wasn't called propaganda and even embrace extend extinguish wasn't even brought up much.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Considering how they run the app store, is it really any surprise to see it confirmed once again that Apple loves totalitarianism?
Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!
Why not just put them in a shared location (like /usr/local/share/go ?)
I don't see an issue with having the base libs in there.
And Apple decides that access to Chinese markets is more important than the human rights of the Chinese.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Will have to look this one up when I get home. I enjoy CCTV9, and its, um, interesting take on international events. Plus, I just get tickled watching any international commercials! And their learn chinese language shows are actually pretty good.
...that the name of the Chinese broadcaster is the same as that of the UK surveillance camera network?
That's a fitting new association, isn't it? ^^
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
You shut fuck up!
I for one am looking forward to loading this app on my iPhone and learning how to integrate with the Masters who will take over when this pitiful Empire finishes crumbling away. You fat American pigs go ahead and shoot your inbred heads off, I will be heading to China informed and culturally aware! BITCHES!
TIPS sent data to law enforcement
Flag@WhiteHouse.Gov sent data to the President directly (or basically a group he controls).
You figure out for yourself which is more concerning. That law enforcement is being sent data about potential security issues, or that citizens are being reported for not properly adhering to NewSpeak.
Scenario to work through: News report that disagrees with presidents report on stimulus numbers. You report to TIPS - nothing happens. But you can and were supposed to report to FLAG as "inaccurate"....
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
In the interest of objectivity, there's one important detail that hasn't really been brought up yet in this discussion: CCTV doesn't have a monopoly over Chinese television. In most Chinese TV markets, their total audience share (for all of their channels combined) is about 45%.
Make no mistake. CCTV is, in fact, the official TV network of the Chinese Communist Party, directly accountable to its ministry of propaganda, but it has to earn its market share the same way other commercial channels do -- by making popular TV shows. The difference is, where other channels might get creative with product placement (ie, someone on a sitcom ordering a pizza from Dominos, or drinking Pepsi Max), they do it with party ideology. Chinese viewers who hate the CCP don't watch CCTV, or watch shows and play drinking games (a soldier expressed his love for the country? Do a shot of vodka...) whenever they see something stupid and overt. Chinese viewers who are loyal & enthusiastic CCP members watch the shows, and act like elderly Americans watching "Little House on the Prairie". The other 85% or so of Chinese viewers just regard them as a bunch of channels they get from the satellite or cable company, and view them about the same way Americans see PBS, "family-oriented" channels (retch, vomit, gag), Fox, MSNBC, and Lifetime. The channels are there, to watch or ignore. The only real advantage they have over their commercial competitors is the fact that every basic cable TV package in China MUST include them, so if you're poor, they probably ARE your entire TV package. On the other hand, if you're *that* poor, you're not likely to own an iPhone... genuine, counterfeit, or otherwise.
From a strictly business standpoint, Apple would have been stupid to say 'no' to the app. For one thing, in China, most of the elite & wealthy *are* CCP members. They might privately think Mao was full of shit, but on the other hand, they're internalized the party's beliefs to some extent whether they believe it or not. They DO watch CCTV, and would have been pissed/outraged if Apple had said 'no'. The REAL thing to watch for is whether or not Apple approves similar apps for CCTV's competitors, or throws out some lame excuse like "there's already an app in the store that does it".
So we should instead simply let them live their lives without technology that can liberate them? Look at Cuba compared to divided Germany. Pretty much most of the free world blocked Cuba, so because of this Cubans have lived their lives under a dictatorship and not known much of freedom. China on the other hand will eventually break free of their current government whenever their government fails and problems arise because unlike Cuba, North Korea, and other countries China has many people who travel abroad, who are scholarly and are free-thinking. Why isn't there a revolution in China currently? Things in China are steadily improving to the point that the Chinese don't feel a need for a different government plan. When their government fails though, expect a revolution. Just like in Europe 20 years ago and Soviet Russia.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
FTFA:
"In 1984, the iconic American company ran a popular commercial for its new Macintosh computers that said the machines would show users "why 1984 won't be like '1984,' " a reference to the George Orwell book about a society ruled by a mind-controlling regime. "
Wow. Talk about shooting one's self in the foot..... But then again, what do you expect from a company that strives to maintain COMPLETE control of their products?
So where are the Apple Fanbois on this one?
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
as some one who is living in china i find it a very sad day that the same company that did that 1984 is now promoting this horible goverment !
To be honest, really really hate...........
Has anyone here actually seen CCTV? My cable was out once and CCTV was one of the channels I still had. After watching it for a while I found it low key and educational. If learning about other people's culture, lifestyle and views are propaganda, then it must be.
The underlying assumption here is that viewers of the world are so brainless that even the slightest exposure to CCTV will turn them into slack-jawed commie zombies. I've downloaded the app and anticipate that it will prove quite useful for a number of reasons:
1. Local conflicts that don't make the international news. Often within China the national media are seen as "liberal" in the sense of less beholden to local, partisan interests. As a result CCTV frequently has journalistic exposes of shocking illegality out in the provinces: workers unpaid for years at a time due to venality, shoddy construction practices, rank corruption, etc. Not unlike the CNBC talking about exotic minor financial crimes unearthed by the SEC, while the kingpins of Wall Street crime are never mentioned, CCTC will only rarely expose problems in the major organs of power, but what they do talk about can make for riveting TV.
2. Coverage during crises such as the Tibet and Sinjiang rebellions as well as natural disasters. By the imperative to fill the time available, the images, information, interviews etc. presented can be revealing as much for what isn't being seen as for what is.
3. Coverage of the outside world. How China perceives flaws in the U.S. financial system, their annual report on human rights abuses in the U.S., their extensive coverage of African affairs all adds balance to what isn't normally seen in the U.S.
In short, we're all adults, capable of parsing media on a number of levels. This is an excellent addition to the iphone.
How many points do I score for guessing that the majority of this howling chorus have never even watched as much as 1 second of CCTV's programs? This is just some idiots that - once again - want to whip up some anti-Chinese sentiment, to prevent bad things from happening in case people start thinking on their own. I mean, that is how the people of America have been conned for decades, and why your education system is constantly under threat from "religious" groups; that is why Americans automatically think that "free market" must be good - despite all the Enrons and the current recession, which were the direct results of deregulation.
Wake up and think your own thoughts, for God's sake; it won't turn you into a Communist overnight. Just don't be a sheep (or a cow - why do you think they called GWB a cowboy?)
Free Tibet App: $99
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Funny thing about China right now, is that in order to run a business in China, you must have a Chinse partner working with you. To which, the Chinese have big plans for foreigners looking for cheap labor (NSFW website! though story is very important!)
The question now is, do we still want to manufacture in china, if the Chinese government wants to force foreign companies (i.e. Motorola, Nokia, Sony, etc.) to hand over their Intellectual Property to the Chinese government?
Personally, I don't see why we should outsource goods to China when we can manufacture them here in the United States or at very least Mexico.
The chinese could very well install these programs on goods exported from China or posted in the App Store and Android Market.
Now would be a good time to bring manufacturing back to America especially with the 10.2% unemployment rate and China's intentions.
Of course, Apple won't do that. Apple would rather continue to manufacture a device that has be under lock and key so badly, people have died because someone lost the phone or some other moral implications. (Imagine if HTC or Motorola had this problem, their would be one hell of a controversy!)
But as long as Apple continues to appease the Chinese with a steady revenue from a device that despite being so popular is really becoming a social control, the status quo will prevail...more so since they sell iPhones at places like Walmart.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
The whole report is based on a small piece here: http://www.sarft.gov.cn/articles/2009/11/10/20091110153833740830.html, totally one paragraph, and it's under the section "News Abstract".
You guys can really make a lot out of it. Great imagination!