Phil Cunningham Profile picture
金培力 CCTV FOLLIES at https://t.co/Ytx660bYM5 Fulbright, Knight, Nieman Fellow. @jinpeili.bsky.social @jinpeili@ieji.de

Jan 3, 2023, 27 tweets

CCTV FOLLIES 1.3 As Chairman Xi said...
Psst! Have you heard the word? Everyone's talking about Xi's legendary speech!
-Xi speech recap
-Poke oar in water, set sail
-CCTV does itself
-US support of Ukraine ruins Russia's smooth takeover and ruins chances of a pro-Russian peace

-As Chairman Xi said in his New Year's speech...
-As Chairman Xi said in his New Year's speech...
-As Chairman Xi said in his New Year's speech...
-Sweet, like sugarcane...

The youth of China are snapping into line for the
"New Journey in the New Era" (TM) copyright XJP

What an inspiration, to one and all...

And there are more Xi slogans to regurgitate; folksy yet profound, clever, yet articulate, bite-size but filling.

"Concentrate on the mission, set sail on a new journey!"

editor's note: This stock photo clearly illustrates "blood alley" from the infamous 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The square, to the left, was relatively free of murderous assault, but the bullets and tanks made mincemeat of peaceful protesters on the Boulevard of Eternal Peace.

Yhis drone shot happens to be hovering above where the glorious Goddess of Democracy once stood, but drones weren't available in those days.
But I digress...
(end of editor's note)

In contrast to the rabble-rousing counter-revolutionary youth of 1989, today there's the guidance of Xi to keep 'em in line.
The hot topic on the lips of young people these days is the good news of Xi's succession to a new term at the victorious 20th party congress.

Attention book lovers:
"A new era promotes new thinking, and new thinking promotes a new era."

You'll never guess who said that, but CCTV has you covered.

The books are well-bound, profound and on sale in every bookstore that wants to survive.
And they are by the same author!

In the most meta moment of a program full of weird turns, CCTV directs it's gaze upon itself, something that is very much in the spirit of Xi's New Year's Speech of high self-regard.

And here it is, folks, the belly of the beast!
The beating heart of China's TV empire.
This is where CCTV slices, dices, edits, alters, freezes, cuts, discards, manipulates, authorizes and preserves the pictures by which the New Era will be remembered.

A peek behind the scenes of the visual magicians at work. And don't forget the hard-working voice actors, and the editors who handle graphics and subtitles and keeping it to script.

But it's the work of the photographers that is easiest to appreciate, especially when they get out of the studio and out of the meeting halls into the field.
They are good at what they do, and there's no denying their talent for capturing nice cliched images of the motherland.

From the studio to the editing suite, from the 大裤衩 HQ to far-flung locations, CCTV is there, bringing China to you.

And what a China it is! It's New Era China, it's China on a journey, it bridges and slogan draped museums and "China Internet Civilization Conference."

It's the winter Olympics (again?) and high tech.
It's "China Pictured on Film" and daredevil drone shots.

Inside the hallowed halls of CCTV's old building, the rehearsals for the 2023 Spring Festival are underway.
It's one of those wonderful special events in which everyone can dress like a designated minority

Industrial expansion is up.
Covid is under joint prevention and control.

Today's pandemic report touts the immense value of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It's a point of pride that anything with the name China in it should work well.
The "Free Fried Particles" sound especially intriguing

And the world news turns to Russia's special military operation...
It has encountered unexpected resistance.

Soldier in the field protecting Russia's right to do whatever it wants in Ukraine. Moscow's spox Igor Konashenkov tries to keep it upbeat, but he's under strain.
CCTV provides a useful map to help viewers better grasp the complex situation.
File footage of HIMARS on the move

Ukraine fires back.
Drone attack on Kiev thwarted.

The root of the problem is the US; every expert consulted by CCTV seems to agree:
-US should stop sending weapons to Ukraine
-US should stop fanning the flames

The next story is big in so many ways
-It gets more air time than all the Covid in China
-It involves a backward little place called Britain
-It involves workers on strike

CCTV loves strikes in countries it doesn't like

No strikes to report on in the worker's paradise of China

And with that in-depth report on the epochal rise of the worker's tide rocking Britain, CCTV calls it a wrap.

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