CCTV FOLLIES 1.27 Still carrying water for the Kremlin
-Russian news and views color CCTV coverage
-Russian has power, Putin prowess
-Russia is victim
-Kiev should give up
-US sanctions so unfair!
-NATO root cause of the "situation"
-Bad news from bad countries: US and UK
There is not a lick of China news in today's report. Just two-year old canned video of Xi and pretty stage scenes of holiday cheer around a happy, prosperous nation.
But as the holiday felicity swell recedes, grimy news from outside China gets some air time.
A regular feature of the CCTV's flagship news program is a section devoted to footage from Russia's Ministry of Defense. For months it was introduced by MOD spokesman Igor Konashenkov, but now CCTV just cuts to the chase, inserting Russian footage around the 20'' mark.
The jump cut is abrupt and disconcerting; one minute you're looking peaceful New Year celebrations in China, the next minute a battlefield.
Pro-tip to CCTV editors: put in a bumper shot
The chyron accompanying the Russia shots is general and devoid of detail or context. It's usually "Russia strikes Ukraine military targets, Ukraine fights back"
Today the subtitles are slightly more informative:
"Russia says it strikes Ukraine military radar"
"Ukraine says it intercepted Russian drones and missiles"
Some of the footage is presumably fresh, but CCTV has run identical shot run several times, and frequent air minor variations on a theme; mostly long guns emptying their ammo and helicopter strike shots.
The damage this does to people on the receiving end is never shown; rather it's a pyrotechnic display of presumed Russian military prowess and might.
Ukraine is usually shown as supine and on the defensive, but in today's program CCTV acknowledged that Ukraine is getting good at intercepting Russian missiles.
In other news from the front, Russia has introduced it's "Marker" combat robot to the battlefield.
The proposed delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine has won CCTV''s attention and it's been quick to find critics:
"Germany's making a mistake of historic proportions"
"The decision was made under American pressure."
CCTV concludes "Ukraine Situation" with scenes of US weapons being unloaded; today it added a graphic showing how much $$$ the US is spending
Stacks of gold coins usually show China's economic growth; here they are reconfigured (with pistols and rifles) to show US style economics
"US selfish aim is win for itself the maximum benefit"
CCTV report on "Palestine-Israel conflict"
9 casualties in Israel's West Bank raid.
Palestinian authority halts cooperation.
News focus then turns to US where a battle is shown raging on the streets of Atlanta
The news is a week old but it's very "fresh" for CCTV because negative news was tamped down during the height of New Year's festivities.
CCTV regularly runs "bad" news from the US, but it did not report on the horrific mass shootings in California during the past week.
CCTV viewers are accustomed to detailed reports and statistics on gun violence in the US.
Why was it held back this time?
-New Year's news is supposed to be happy
-the latest mass shootings involved Chinese, making the narrative less simple than the usual black-and-white stuff
But the China's leading news program seems to be gearing up for business as usual with this luridly negative report on the US:
"A state of emergency has been declared in Georgia"
Ditto for bad news about Britain, though Britain's humiliations are economic rather than violent.
What's more, China appears supportive of workers rights. The history of socialism is brimming with militant labor actions.
(though not today's China which is ALREADY socialist)
Here again, CCTV's sense of the news is timeless. The events depicted date to December, the most recent footage is a week old.
With last week's news, CCTV is playing catch-up since bad news from Britain, like the US, was dropped over the happy national holiday
But this is hard stuff to countenance for citizens still enjoying the apres-holiday glow, so the anchors conclude the "news" program with pretty pictures from all over China.
Through the eyes of CCTV's crack camera crews, China is a magic kingdom, full of brightness and light.
It's a mythical place of child-proof peace where everything is good and nothing is bad.
A country at peace, brimming with prosperity and Xi Jinping thought.
No need to spoil the holiday spirit with news about the rolling blackouts and fuel shortages crippling China's northern provinces.
The unnecessary but eye-catching and highly decorative showcase lights can not, must not be dimmed.
The CCP show must go on...
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