Massive bloodletting at China Central Television

There have been rumors of layoffs at CCTV for several weeks, and it looks like the hammer has finally fallen, according to IMDB news.

China Central Television has embarked on what is likely the biggest number of layoffs in television history. Japan's Kyodo News Service, citing unnamed CCTV employees, reported today (Wednesday) that the Chinese broadcaster plans to lay off 3,000 to 5,000 people, representing a third of its entire staff. The network, which operates 14 channels and claims to reach an audience of 900 million, reportedly plans to fire temps first, including part-time university students.

Rumors have run rampant as to the reasons behind the layoff. One such reason blames a government crackdown on state-run media following the fake cardboard baozi scare.

This is courtesy of the China Media Project (with a h/t to Imagethief):

In related news, CMP learned from sources within the Chinese media that China Central Television, responding to the cardboard bun story, recently issued an internal order that all non-contract journalists working with the network be dismissed by July 27. One CMP source referred to the move as the "massacre of the freelancers."

China Media News has learned that the original goal was, as mentioned above, to eliminate all non-contract staff, of which there are thousands at CCTV.

We hope to post more on this shortly.