Must CCTV

Monday, Mar. 31, 2003 By MATTHEW FORNEY / BEIJING

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Over the years, China's televised newscasts have conspicuously avoided one thing: the news. In 2001, for instance, the attack on New York City's World Trade Center reached mainland airwaves a full day after the buildings had collapsed. But the second Gulf War is giving Chinese broadcast journalists a chance to redeem themselves. Two China Central Television (CCTV) channels are offering around-the-clock coverage, while others are showing large blocks of war news, mostly live and largely free of governmental interference. "We're washing a bad taste out of our mouths," says a CCTV producer proudly.

Viewers have seen frequent dispatches from a Chinese reporter on location in Baghdad, in-studio analysis from retired People's Liberation Army officers and unfiltered interpretation of statements from U.S. generals and even from President George W. Bush. The motivation? Same as in the rest of TV world: ratings. Amid fierce competition for viewers, channels are using the war to differentiate themselves. China's English-language channel, CCTV 9, which broadcasts to the mainland and abroad, has set its eyes on a larger market. "It's positioning itself as an alternative to Western and Arab media around the world," says John Terenzio, a former news executive for ABC and NBC who is advising the channel on its coverage.

Despite limited censorship, producers know where the red lines are. Segments begin with violin-backed montages of injured Iraqi children followed by the words "Give Peace a Chance." Iraqi claims that the U.S. is dropping cluster bombs on civilian targets are repeated without skepticism, and there has been no mention of Saddam's past use of chemical weapons or his invasions into Iran and Kuwait. And the government has banned coverage of an even bigger story for China—the spread of a deadly new disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Reporters are setting the bar higher, but some news is still not fit to print, or show.