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China Cuts 'Excessive Entertainment' From TV
An anonymous reader writes "Chinese broadcasters have axed two-thirds of popular TV shows in line with a government directive to curb 'excessive entertainment.' From the article: 'The rule, first announced in October, is targeted at what Chinese regulators have called "excessive entertainment and a trend toward low taste," to address the rise of talent shows, dating shows and other such programming aired by China's tightly regulated, but increasingly competitive, regional satellite broadcasters. Authorities also encouraged broadcasters to air more news and educational programming.' according to local media reports."
If the viewers can't find what they want on the tube, they'll get it somewhere else.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
If I had my own country, I would make reality TV illegal too.
But after being pestered by so many Big Brothers and other related horrors, it's very hard for me to frown upon the chinese here.
just go without cable and save yourself 100 bucks a month
Thank you, China, for the excessively entertaining action!
There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
A country where stupid politicians don't try to learn dancing salsa on TV? Count me in!!!!
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
So Big Brother shut down Big Brother?
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(but so much more, including game and movie reviews)
http://yanteb.peasantoid.org
TV doesn't make people stupid, it just keeps stupid people entertained and out of the public eye, so why is excessively entertaining media a bad thing?
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things...
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
After watching cable TV in the US over the holidays, could I ask that they do the same thing to American TV?
(Only partially tongue-in-cheek).
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Beside the obvious "OMGFreeSpeech" and "OMG1984" arguments, in the face of garbage programming like American Idol, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, etc, what practical non-what-if arguments are there for this being a bad thing?
I didn't realize that it is actually possible for a government to decide their people are having too much fun.
Excessive entertainment over the tube is one of the lead causes of the downfall of the Western nations.
Turn on the tube if you don't believe me, flip some channels, see how many of the programs are of any value in the first place?
No wonder over 90% of the American high school graduates can't even pinpoint their own country - the United States of America - on the world map.
They have been dumbed down by the entertainment industry.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
That's true of geeks, but I wonder how true it is of most Chinese. We shouldn't underestimate how much the government can shift media consumption patterns by making access more difficult.
We tax the snot out of cigarettes and booze because they aren't healthy for society... we've had a TV in every home for 50+ years now, and parents are exposing their children to TV from birth... if you can't restrict people's use of TV, you might as well remove the incentive to watch it by making it more informational/educational, rather than an "opiate of the masses".
We ended up with the evening news in a response to a federal mandate that X% be used for reporting the news, how much better off would we have been if we'd restricted entertainment to Y% of the total broadcast time? How would society be if we limited mass entertainment? Would local entertainment like playhouses still be much more successful?
moox. for a new generation.
There are several online services which offer loads of pirated TV shows and even movies. For example, my wife uses a streaming program called funsion to watch HIMYM, Big Bang and other popular American TV shows.
As of yesterday, those show are no longer available. This was also the case on the two other alternative services.
Granted, one can use a VPN tunnel, but most people will not be willing to pay money for a VPN which is fast enough to stream.
I do happen to pay for premium VPN services, but as I was last in China, it was impressively slow. Enough for real google results and such, but not enough for netflix.
You seriously underestimate the spread of technology in China.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
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In China, you watch CCTV (China Central TeleVision), in Soviet Britain, CCTV watches you!
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
Heck, I can't even remember anyone watching fictional TV in that documentary.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Someone in the CCP must have seen Jersey Shore, and decided to stop the trend before it's too late.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
given the age we live in it is unlikely the chinese regulators will be able to control it. But perhaps it will have some effect on the character of the country. Who can say. Similar restrictions in US history influenced it's culture.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Why don't you just turn your TV off?
I'm a Chinese, I really hate those shows. You have no idea how many prostitutes are there on the dating shows.
just lost my password.
The last time I checked out the cable situation a few months ago, the U.S. has already scrubbed entertainment from broadcast and cable TV.
I am not sure if this was a patriotic move on the part of Hollywood to build a nation of young people who enjoyed more sunshine, or something imposed upon them by government officials afraid of citizens enjoying themselves too greatly as it would seem China has encountered. Either way, the U.S. beat ya' to it China!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
More news, more education, and endless pony marathons.
Seriously I get real tired of the America basing some people feel the need to do whenever anything about another country comes up...
2) Not everyone on the Internet lives in America. Maybe they are interested in news about other countries, ever think of that? Stop trying to steer everything back to your country. There are plenty of discussions on /. about the shit that happens in America. Don't hijack others.
You do realize the GP didn't mention America at all in his comment, don't you? It was only you who mentioned America. In essence, you're doing exactly what you said shouldn't be done.
I'm Canadian, and I had a similar sentiment as the GP. I think _you_ should stop steering the discussion towards America.
Geeks don't grock information, they grep it.
You seem to have gotten there ahead of us.
The very fundamental ideals of Chinese society place family and the greater community at higher priority than the individual's wants or needs. I suspect the vast majority of the Chinese people actually don't mind this. Those that do can certainly access media from elsewhere in the world -- technology is wide spread in China.
You really need to get the image of rice farms out of your heads.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
State run TV means it's going to serve the priorities of the state. It's not a commercial enterprise out to win the greatest number of eyeballs, but a tool of the government first and the entertainment of the people second.
It's not unlike the emphasis the CBC placed on their programming mix when state-run TV was the only option in Canada. I saw a lot of documentaries, docu-drama histories, and educational shows when I was young.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I just love hearing how awful popular entertainment is from people who buy Space 1999 on Blu-Ray, think Firefly was the pinnacle of western civilization, and just never seem to get tired of zombie shows and films.
Most people view this as a good thing, yet they some how don't think China will shape what people watch based around how they want to condition them. No sir, China is just out to cancel all forms of reality TV and badddd programing. They're going to show their kids Sesame street from now on too!
I could not agree more.
Disclaimer: I have a dislike for shows, i'll have me some non-fiction documentaries or fiction comedy instead.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Funny story - the spread of technology in China is almost guaranteed to topple the idiots running North Korea. Firstly, it's made most Chinese despise the North Korean government, which makes the Chinese - North Korean alliance a bit of a farce. Everyone except North Korea (who think China is still their friend) knows that China's only concern now is whether or not it suffer any collateral damage (i.e. bombs, shells, or fallout falling on Chinese soil), and how to deal with the refugees.
More importantly, North Koreans buy black-market goods from China. This includes iPod clones, many of which will come sold pre-loaded with the best Korean entertainment videos, all of which come from South Korea. It's getting harder and harder to explain that they are so superior, when all the South Korean shows are about families which are 10X richer than the families shown in pro-North propaganda.
Why don't you just turn your TV off?
he's not worried about himself watching the shows, it's more that he can't go and turn everyone elses tv's off so they wouldn't be entertained.
philosophical problem, really, what should we do with our time and if being entertained is bad or not. in China I wouldn't be too surprised if it was old school cadre of government channels that had lobbied for these slashes - to keep their tv more popular. it's not like they'd want real news on the telly.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
if the vast majority didn't mind, they wouldn't need banning as they wouldn't have any viewers, while in fact these bans are a part of a war for viewers.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
If a vast majority was like how you say the highest rated shows would be educational and news. Yet it seems the highest rated shows are entertainment based.
Hmm, it seems that humans everywhere are the same .. who'd have thought?
What ever happened to Bread and Circuses for keeping the population in line? It has worked up to this point, why change it?
...when you get better and more interesting TV programming in a communist country than in the free world.
I weep for humanity.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
In England they have closed down most community centers, places that used to be used for playing football have been turned into office buildings or parking, nobody wants to go for a run as the air is polluted, the roads are so congested it makes cycling dangerous, travel is expensive, taking up a hobby like photography will probably get you arrested, and why bother learning an instrument as one day you will be able to karaoke to Robbie Williams on stage and become instantly famous without any of that icky hard work?
People do just turn off the television where I live in France. But then they have put in cycle lanes everywhere, cheap transport so 1e will take you anywhere, there are free football pitches, basketball courts, tennis (nearly free), and the council is always organising events and spectaces. One of the biggest days of the year is "Fete de la Musique" where everybody takes to the streets and plays an instrument or sings in any style they want. There is a web site "On va sortir" where anybody can spontaneously propose an event (poker night, dance lesson, walk in the countryside, whatever) and anybody can register to join in, which is very successful.
We could do worse than steal ideas from the neighbour across the pond.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
When I went there for a short while I found that while most can speak Taiwanese (Taiwanese Hokkien) they seem to default to Mandarin a lot more. That may be because I was in Taipei?
They use a different script though- "Traditional" vs mainland China's "simplified" version.
We still see video of people falling over themselves weeping when Kim-Jong "mentally" ill dies. Not to say that those videos aren't at least partially staged, but some "undercover" video has leaked out of NK showing that at least some of the weeping, wailing and carrying on was genuine. (I apologize for not having a link ATM. Search on YouTube. It's there.)
Not to say that the new regime isn't weak, it certainly is. But not so weak that ipod clones are going to topple them anytime soon. We see how well "westernization" has "toppled" the communist Chinese government. (IE: Not at all) If Kim-Jong Un decides to modernize and westernize following the Chinese model, Korea isn't likely to see unification anytime in the next century.
Sadly, there really is only ONE way to absolutely topple a government of any stripe. That's with violent revolution. The only way that Korea will unify is if SK invades and defeats NK. With NK's recent round of sabre-rattling, that's looking more and more likely every day.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
There are 'way too many entry points to this discussion. The mass hypnosis of TV and movies undermined Japan's post-war program for a stronger Japan, by "Americanizing" Japanese values. American "reality" TV fosters a view of stupid, immoral Americans, but it also shows the vast difference in wealth between the two nations. This must be a threat to Chinese Government-approved values and economics. Now, 2/3 of the people in Chines TV may be "out-of-work" in whatever way a government-subsidized "production" can exist.
This puts one of China's leading-edge economic industries about where the United States was in 1921.
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
Television is regulated everywhere in the world. TV channels being a finite resource, a free market of channels couldn't exist, thus regulation is required. What programmes can air and when, the amount of ads etc. And while some would say that China's regulations are overextensive, I think that a tightly government-controlled TV is still better than one controlled by the Big Media cartel. The customers don't really decide anything, the success or failure of a show is determined by survey groups of a few dozen. The problem with Chinese TV regulation is not the ban of low-quality shows, but the ban of politically sensitive topics.
Does that even qualify as entertainment ? I figured those were religious programs you had to watch to pay for your sins.
morcego
In England they have closed down most community centers, places that used to be used for playing football have been turned into office buildings or parking, nobody wants to go for a run as the air is polluted, the roads are so congested it makes cycling dangerous,
Really? This is ten minutes walk from my house: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shibden_Valley_001.JPG And this is an hour's drive away: http://www.lonewalker.walkingplaces.co.uk/walks/day/20080607.htm
I didn't realize that it is actually possible for a government to decide their people are having too much fun.
What us westerners don't realize, is that the Chinese programs have become so excessively entertaining, they are in danger of creating "The Entertainment", and are banning such programs to ensure their own survival!
One-child-per-family contributes to child abandonment, gender-specific abortion and infanticide. It's also driving more Chinese to use fertility treatment to give birth to more than one child at a time (since that's not forbidden) which adds to other birth related complications. While I don't disagree something needs to be done about rapid population growth, I don't think a government mandated limit is the right answer.
FCC does not have control of content of cable / sat channels.
So now they have to cut down on the TV channels to fit it in.
Mandarin is as popular as it is in Taiwan because when the KMT came after the Civil War they used their position of power to actively suppress indigenous culture in an attempt to remake the island into a bastion of Han culture and unify identity. Even after that ceased a few decades later the momentum has remained, especially and unsurprisingly in the urban areas.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Now why would these shows need to be taken off the air if they weren't popular and the "vast majority of the Chinese people actually don't mind this"? The fact that they needed government interference in order to curb their growth suggests that your premise on the "very fundamental ideals of Chinese society" is wrong, because what people consume in entertainment is a reflection of the evolution of the fundamental ideals of any society.
I'd venture that the traditionalists/conservatives in China don't mind this, but the young people -- those who are and will continue to be the engine for liberalization -- will not. How would you react if Republicans wanted legislation to take The Bachelor/Bachelorette, The X Factor, or Big Brother off the air because they do not promote the "fundamental ideals of American society" like a nuclear family, patriarchal society, or heterosexuality? I suspect, if such a thing were to happen, you would be far more conflicted with your support than you are right now.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Big Brother was originally conceived of in the Netherlands, and has over 40 national or regional variations. Even if the GP is American, everyone from the UK to the Philippines can relate to his comment.
Because he would still have to live in a world with people who don't think like he does, which is his real complaint.
Fits in a sig too!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
It sounds like you've never been to Taiwan because you don't have the first clue what you're talking about. Taiwan, in fact, is considered to be the most progressive nation in Asia.
But then I'm not sure what your criteria is for being "progressive". There are high profile women there running corporations. They've had a female vice-president and a woman is currently running for president and doing fairly well. The people there are very open-minded and great towards foreigners. They've got good labor laws and they offer more holidays than we get in the US. And they have a decent nationalized healthcare system, although not nearly as problem-free as PBS documentary from several years ago claimed. The major cities have a good public transportation systems and a couple of years ago completed a high-speed rail line that crosses the nation.
So how are they not progressive?
One thing you need to understand is that Taiwan is NOT China.
He's always looking down his nose at us fun countries, going on about how he doesn't watch TV. Canada and Australia are much more fun.
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Great suggestion, thanks!
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
... that they're only following the lead of Hollywood. Between the rise of the so-called "reality" shows to the excessive use of the laugh track in current sitcoms (Example: Star of the show enters room: "Hi guys!" [uproarious laughter]. Me: [click]) it seems that most entertainment has already been removed from American television. Frankly, I'd say that the Chinese are fairly late to the removing-excessive-entertainment game.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
The very fundamental ideals of Chinese society place family and the greater community at higher priority than the individual's wants or needs.
Interesting how the conservative christian in the United States share the same ideals as the Chinese, and they also share the same hate for each other.
American Conservatives believe in censorship for a better society, and so do the communist Chinese. The American Conservative believes in family values, and so do the communist Chinese. The American Conservative believes in a strong Law and Order government, and so do the communist Chinese. The American Conservative believes in the War on Drugs, and so does the communist Chinese.
With everything that the American Christian Conservative has in common with the communist Chinese, you'd think that there would be no reason for all the hate, and every reason to pat each other on the back.
Yes, that was my distinct impression.
Having a 17yo (physically maybe, mentally certainly) tell anyone they are dumb, sheep, idiot, insult o' the day because they like or don't like _____ really gets old on /., almost as bad as hearing made up facts and uninformed opinions. I don't care for reality tv, and therefore don't watch it. One of my best friends, a PhD in medievel lit who works in a technical field, happens to like COPS (particularly when they are using dogs!) but it doesn't make him an idiot in my judgement. Perhaps a few more of the "they're idiots" crowd should try to broaden their horizons. Work on understanding and appreciating rather than just being a counter-idiot.
The US cut 'excessive entertainment' from TV in the late 80s, and removed the last vestiges of entertainment by the mid 90s, leaving today's mix of reality shows and other garbage as the only things on.