Recently in China Central Television Category
China Media News was the first to bring attention to the profile in the Los Angeles Times about CCTV 9 anchor Edwin Maher. The article has since been debated between those who believe the article was biased, and those who support the Times reporting.
If you are interested in following the story, below are some resources:
- Black and White Cat, which is run by a current CCTV 9 employee, has posted his thoughts and provided a translation from a an article, originally in Chinese, in the Global Times.
- Read the Global Times original article; it is a rebuttal to what it considers unfair criticism of Edwin Maher.
- Zhongnanhai, the sister site of China Media News, features a long post that compares western and Chinese journalism.
- Imagethief has written an excellent post called "What to make of Edwin Maher?" which is a must read.
The Los Angeles Times has recently run a feature on famed CCTV 9 news anchor Edwin Maher. Edwin is a good friend of China Media News, and it's good to see that he is getting the respect he deserves. Among the foreign staff (and perhaps all staff) at CCTV 9, Edwin is perhaps the warmest. His jokes, sunny personality, and genuine interest in the lives of his colleagues make him a valuable member of the team.
Nonetheless, as you'll see in the Times article, not everyone thinks Edwin is doing the right thing by parroting the government's propaganda on international television:
"It sounds like an effort to lend a whiff of Western-style credibility to their news operations, in a superficial way, without having to actually adhere to high standards such as fairness, independence, balance, public service and accuracy," said Neil Henry, a UC Berkeley School of Journalism professor.
"But a propagandist is a propagandist, no matter what one's race or country of origin."
Maher hears from his critics -- from irate e-mail writers to the foreigners he meets. "One writer said there was no excuse for what I was doing. And Westerners on the street will ask how I feel about being a mouthpiece for the Chinese government."
He's unapologetic. He calls his CCTV anchor job the biggest break of a career that has spanned decades in Australia and his native New Zealand.
The article is well worth a read.
China Media News is amazed how many people end up on this site by searching for blogs belonging to CCTV 9 news anchors. CCTV 9 currently hosts blogs for a number of anchors, including Edward Law, Rui Chenggang, James Chau (you might also want to check out James Chau's home page for additional writing) and others. But alas, James Aitken has been without... until now.
For a peek at some of James' thoughts regarding Chinese financial institutions, you can visit China Media News' sister site, Zhongnanhai. We hope James will submit further columns in the future.
It has not been the best year for staff at China Central Television, China's largest and most prestigious international broadcaster.
Earlier this year, in light of the cardboard buns story, all staff without contracts were relieved of their duties. China Media News reported that 3,000 to 5,000 staff were let go.
China Media News can now confirm that all staff for CCTV had their salaries reduced by half in September as a cost-cutting move. CMN can also confirm that this is the second time that Chinese staff have suffered a reduction in pay within the last two years.
The loss of thousands of staff, increased workload, and lower salaries is obviously not sitting well with employees inside the offices on Fuxing Lu.
Perhaps they can find other employment with Shanghai's new English Channel.
This was originally posted on Danwei:
CCTV is shooting a documentary in the Old Summer Palace this weekend. It's about the life of Cixi, the Empress Dowager who ruled at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Cixi's government had extensive dealings with foreigners and this is part of the documentary. They need four elegant white women, 30-50 years old, to act as ambassador's wives. The acting is easy going: just need to go around, only 2 half days, no need to speak Chinese. The salary is 800RMB per day, plus taxi fee. The job starts Monday.
If you are interested, please please email your photo and mobile phone number to kamal@yahoo.cn.
Danwei is reporting that CCTV 2 is looking for foreigners who have in-depth knowledge of Chinese language, culture, and history. The post from Danwei is listed below:
Lucky 52 is a popular Chinese TV game show hosted by Li Yong, broadcast on CCTV 2 every Friday at 7:30pm.
The show is preparing an episode which will set three laowai against one another in a quiz about Chinese culture and language. Candidates must speak good Mandarin. Be prepared for the full blast CCTV experience, but it's a great opportunity to put yourself in front of an audience in the hundreds of millions.
Participants receive home appliances, electronics and possibly cash prizes, depending on how well they do in the quiz.
If you are interested please call Vivian on 1314 671 9935.
China Central Television's International Channel, CCTV 9, has been running regular recruiting advertisements for Olympic sports anchors.
The anchors must speak native-level English or close to it, and overseas Chinese are encouraged to apply. It's unclear how many positions are open, however it's assumed with the Olympics only a year away the sports department, which currently has 3-4 hosts, will need to be beefed up substantially.
You can send your resumes to sportsscene@cctv.com
As an aside, perhaps CCTV 9 should hire someone to update their Sports Scene website home page. All three anchors listed no longer work with the station.
She was one of the most popular anchors on CCTV 9 in Beijing, leading many to wonder where she went. Susan, who originally hails from Toronto, worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before embarking on her trip to China. She worked for a couple of years at CCTV 9 before being put through a very torturous phone interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. To her surprise, she won the job and began working as an anchor on Bloomberg last year.
China Media News recently ran into Susan at New Heights in Shanghai, where she has been sent to report on China's soaring stock market. She has now been moved to late afternoon anchoring shifts, which is a welcome change from the 3am wake-up calls she had previously. She also seems to be quite popular in her new position.
China Media News can attest to Susan's professionalism on Bloomberg, despite complaints from the makeup team at CCTV 9 that they do a better job with Susan's appearance!
Congratulations to Susan on her success.
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.
The changes continue at China Central Television’s International Channel (CCTV 9), but this time leaders of the international station are shuffling senior newsroom managers. China Media News has been told about the changes by many in the newsroom who have chosen to remain anonymous.
Wang Xin, one of the brighest in the CCTV 9 newsroom, will move from overseeing China Today to the sports department in advance of next year’s Olympics. Current anchor Liu Xin will assume the responsibility for China Today, and maintain her role as a news anchor. The loser in the shuffle is the former sports department head, who will become an assistant to Wang Xin.
In unrelated news, another popular employee, Annie Fu, will be moving from the 2nd floor newsroom to the 8th floor Biz China team. Annie was passed over for a Biz China anchor position for Wei Sue Loke, but will assume a full-time copy-editing position with the team as consolation. Annie has been told she’ll be given more freedom with the Biz China team, including conducting her own interviews and some input into the editorial direction of the program. We wish her the best.
