CCTV FOLLIES 1.06 Bowing to the leader
-Foreign diplomats granted an audience Xi start bowing spontaneously
-Looking for the new Lei Feng
-Covid gets a name change
-CCTV advertises itself
-Russian missiles flare
-Major US self-own with pitiful congress spectacle
Another VIP arrival, another gala Great Hall reception
Xi passively dominates the first ten minutes of the news, mostly posing for cameras and being bowed to.
The president of Turkmenistan,
Serdar Berdimuhamedow, is in town.
The highlight in CCTV's ten-minute coverage of the Great Hall meeting is the little diorama showing plastic camels traversing endless desert sands surrounded by realistic cacti and colorful flowers.
As for the rocky real estate market, it's all good.
Keep on moving, nothing to see here.
Key word is "confidence."
Here the minister intones the word "confidence" 3X in one sentence.
And now a report from chilly Shenyang...
Workers must endure frigid temperatures to clear train tunnels of ice. Luckily they have discovered that young workers are good at this kind of work, as this hapless model youth who will miss New Year with his family has wistfully discovered.
The work of cleaning frozen drainage tunnels is not for the fussy or the claustrophobic. Sometimes a bare hand will do the job.
The work is arduous but the train must go on and one's breast surges with pride to see it do so.
Special Job Announcement:
The Communist Party Propaganda Department is accepting applications for a new generation of self-sacrificing Lei Feng heroes.
"Covid protocol, jointly issued by the National Health Commission and the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, changed the Chinese term for COVID-19 from "novel coronavirus pneumonia" to "novel coronavirus infection.
Change the name, change the game.
CCTV has entered the era of peak TV! A new TV series guaranteed to enlighten and entertain. It's called "Go On, Go Blow Your Own Horn" (rough translation) and it's full of surprises.
You'll never guess which political party it's tooting about.
Move over Netflix! CCTV can do series, too. No longer just one long boring episode, but four of them!
Fire up the popcorn. Assemble the family. Be ready to take notes.
Here, a sneak preview as the red flag and yellow sickle are slowly revealed in a zoom-out shot that is artfully framed by green tree cover,
Happy New Year from a nursery school!
(best thing on the news so far)
Marcos Jr gets grilled on CCTV's "Leaders Talk"
Time for another CCTV installment of "Something Special" (TM)
A Russian report on Russia's special military operation.
I'm not sure what CCTV viewers get out of this sordid show and I'm not sure CCTV knows the answer, either.
Seems like they struck a dumb deal with the Kremlin.
The Kremlin brings attention Russian firepower while railing against the US for fanning flames incessant and threatening innocent Russia.
File footage of a Bradley tank is shown below to "illustrate" the point, whatever the point is.
A French financial expert says it's all the fault of US and NATO.
(oh, that's a new one)
A broken window of unknown provenance.
The voice-over explains that Ukraine ends up doing the suffering while the US benefits.
Indeed all of Europe is suffering, but nowhere more than the UK which supports the US to the hilt.
They've got an ongoing train strike to contend with now!
CCTV's bored London TV crew likes train-spotting.
Their vox populi interviews reveal that inflation is going through the roof. The woman on the right sighs, saying she doesn't know what the solution is.
But CCTV knows.
Europe's woes can all be traced to those nefarious US sanctions on Russia.
It's so unfair!
And China has skin in the game. The high cost of oil is weakening Europe as an export market to mop up excess Chinese goods.
When CCTV's hallmark "bad news from a bad country" (TM) segment rolls around, a single picture of the US Congress is worth a thousand words.
During this time of trouble, the restive populace is sure to be calmed by this new publication highlighting Xi Jinping's penetrating insights into high-level science
Yet another publication by the world's greatest freelance writer:
Xi Jinping Thought on Strong Military
Why read it once when you can read it three times?
The next ten minutes is devoted to some reassuring, inspirational shots of Xi Jinping who has total control of the military and wants the world to know it.
Patrick Chovanec, a consultant at Silvercrest Asset Mgmt has done some China virtue-signaling by compiling photos about the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations, an event he evidently knows little about.
(a thread)
To do this, he compiled over a dozen of my photos on his blog , and when I brought this to his attention, he made no effort to credit the photos or reveal where he got them from. patrickchovanec.com/about/
Some of the photos now have a life of their own on the internet, including the above photo, (caption by Chovanec) which has been used by conspiratorial pro-China bloggers as proof of a "color revolution."
;-)
A political bible with quasi-religious overtones is unveiled like a holy relic.
A book by Xi Jinping! In English!
CCTV news shows the entire table of contents
Wow. It sure looks like a gripping read. Find a comfy chair, put the kettle on and settle for a long enlightening read.
CCTV FOLLIES: 5.26
China state TV doubles down on dubious Russia claims about "secret" US bio-labs in Ukraine.
(from May 26 Xinwen Lianbo)
Anchor Li Zimeng couches the accusations in the language of Russia's Defense Ministry, but the CCTV editors like the story enough for it to get major airtime.
The Russia Defense Ministry, solid architectural monolith that it is, is portrayed as a presumably authoritative source.
Read all about it! Top of the news! Yet another much-heralded publication by the indefatigable freelance writer Xi Jinping, whose excessive narcissism is nicely balanced with pictures of himself.
Up next, a nostalgic look back to 2017 when this man was laying the foundation of today's greatness.
Among many, many other incredible, almost super-human accomplishments, he created a city out of dust.