THE DENG BENG - Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendy Deng was big news in China when she save her elderly husband form a pie in the face incident - David Shankbone Photo

China's CCTV English language news presenter Felicity Tan - CCTV screen shot photo

Video Beat - CHINA'S TELEVISION NEWS vs. CNN

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

The bad news is in China there was only one English language channel that only telecast the news. The good news is CNN IS NOT AVAILABLE IN CHINA. - Recommended TV Listings

Sunday July 31, 2011

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

While traveling to three of China's major cities Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing this month we encountered difficulty seeing on television what is going on in the outside world. The primary reason being that we could find only ONE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHANNEL that being the governments CCTV NEWS ENGLISH EDITION. That is the bad news. The good news is that we WEREN'T EXPOSED to CNN's bombastic coverage of the world events.

To its credit CCTV does cover world events in a professional manner as opposed to CNN's sensationalized manner and apparent pro CIA perspective. CNN'S news presenters yell and scream whereas CCTV'S presenters deliver news in a professional manner and are not selling acrid personalities.

The weakness of CCTV's coverage is that many of the presenters lack the ability to speak the English language clearly. Their enunciation is poor. Most importantly the positive side is that they deliver the news and do not sell celebrity.

Some of the hosts and featured guests on talk shows lack persona and often have poor subject knowledge of the topic they are covering. An example the networks perceived intellectual reporter was addressing the subject of education in the United States. He went on to note the quality of the Ivy League schools. He mentioned Harvard and Yale as Ivy League institutions but also included Stanford which is not an Ivy League school.

Another weakness is some of the reports are repeated as much as three times or more a day. It seems that CCTV is functioning on a loop system that was popular in America in the early 80's when cable television was in it's infancy with only 5 million viewers. At that time most of the US cable networks were televising on a 12 hour repeat loop system.

We were moving around the country and didn't sit by the TV to analyze the rapidity of CCTV. The bottom line is it presents the news that is not sensationalized as is CNN's. They cover the positive side of the government which is refreshing since for the most part all one hears about China in America is the negative. We've had our problems in China. It has been a sweet and sour experience that we will address at a latter time in its proper context.

After three weeks of observation our favorite presenter is Felicity Tan. She appears new to the business. We like her more-so because she's pleasant to look at (pretty). She is the most attractive presenter on the network. Her skills are that of an entry level market in America such as Bakersfield, California.

The best news presenter on the CCTV network is in a weekend slot and his name is Edwin Maher. Maher is a New Zealand-born TV journalist who established his broadcast career in Australia, working many minor roles, particularly as a weatherman, in many cities before beginning a 25-year stint with Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1979. He is mostly remembered in Melbourne for his use of a varied and creative number of viewer submitted pointers to highlight items when delivering the ABC's Victorian state weather forecast.

His strength is his although he has an accent his English is clear and he delivers the news in a straight forward manner and is the most professional, unemotional newscaster on CCTV. . His style is in contrast with CNN's sensationalized, in your face overly emotional method of reporting.

In 2003, China Central Television sought to expand its CCTV International to be more professional and accessible to Western audiences. CCTV senior executive Jiang Heping approached Maher, already working in China with CCTV as a voice coach, to become one of the first western anchors for the revamped network. Maher was offered the position because of his clear diction speaking English and his experience in voice coaching.

Maher taught speaking in private lessons through his company Maher Media Services, lectured at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and even released audio lessons on voice. He accepted the job with CCTV and started in March 2004. Besides anchoring a news broadcast a few afternoons a week, his duties include voice coaching to the Chinese staff.

The networks biggest news of the month was the high speed Bullet Train crash on the route from from Beijing to Fuzhou on Saturday night July 23rd in which 40 people died and 191 were injured. When the news was first reported 35 were listed as deceased. The numbers increased as the wreckage was untangled and more bodies were found.

CCTV also focused on the plight of a 2-year-old girl who was found after the search for victims was declared over. Her parents were among the dead. At first doctors feared that her leg would have to be amputated. The most recent report is that the circulation in her leg returned and her leg will not have to be surgically removed.

The second most covered story was the Rupert Murdoch - News of the World phone tapping scandal in the UK. China has a relationship with that story as Murcoch's wife Wendy Deng. She hails from Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China. She was the focus her saving her elderly and despised husband from getting a shaving cream pie in the face from an attacker while he was testifying in court.

The third most covered story was the migration pattern of the antelope in the northwestern part of the country. This story was featured daily throughout the month.

And to be well rounded the network covered the problems in the Middle East. Overall on a scale of 10 we rate CTTV's English language news coverage a 6 but given the language barrier a job well done.

MORE CNN

Prior to traveling to China we watched the CNN going to save the world's trafficking series FREEDOM PROJECT featuring US actress Demi Moore. We've always questioned the integrity of such sensationalized series that CNN repeatedly airs. We question if it is sincere or simply an effort to BOOST RATINGS. We settle for the latter.

Moore's trip to Nepal to cover the child trafficking subject and visit 2010 CNN Hero of the Year Anuradha Koirala was poor. It was more about Moore than the subject matter as she was on camera much of the time. The insight to Koirala's background was excellent.

When Moore was grated an interview with a regional government official to interview a soon to be released human trafficking prisoner she was turned away but the prison's authority. That interview would have been the most significant part of the story as it would reveal how a trafficker thinks and behaves.

Moore had to return to America thus the interview wasn't done. If CNN was sincere about covering the story properly they could have sent another reporter who would not be on camera, that speaks the language and get the interview that could have been edited later into the piece.

Had the prison boss again denied the interview it could have been obtained after his release. We thank the powers that be in China for not permitting CNN to be telecast in their country.

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