Beijing’s anti-graft campaign touches China Central TV
June 12, 2014 Leave a comment
Last updated: June 2, 2014 2:16 pm
Beijing’s anti-graft campaign touches China Central TV
By Charles Clover in Beijing
The man in charge of one of China’s most notorious television shows, aimed at naming and shaming corporate malpractice, has himself been targeted in a bribery investigation by prosecutors, China’s official news agency says.
The case focuses on the head of China Central TV’s advertising department, Guo Zhenxi, who is also in charge of the Consumer Day programme, a show that targets companies – particularly foreign ones – for poor service, shoddy goods and high prices to Chinese consumers.
The show has gained wide popularity among Chinese viewers but earned criticism for arbitrary and sometimes ill-judged attacks on some of the biggest foreign corporate names, such as Apple and Starbucks, as well as large Chinese companies such as search engine Baidu.
China’s official news agency Xinhua, citing a statement from state prosecutors, said Mr Guo had been detained because he was “suspected of bribery”.
The Xinhua report said another official, Tan Liwu, a producer on CCTV’s finance channel, had also been detained. It gave no other details.
The government has cracked down on corruption by government officials since President Xi Jinping’s appointment last year. Public flaunting of personal, and often illicit, wealth had been common and had led to widespread criticism of the ruling Communist party.
Mr Xi vowed to target powerful “tigers” as well as lowly “flies”. Until now, the campaign had primarily focused on allies of powerful former energy and security chief Zhou Yongkang.
In Late May, the focus appeared to widen after a shake-up at China’s National Energy Association as the anti corruption campaign enveloped the country’s key power sector. Xu Yongsheng was dismissed from his position as deputy director of the NEA.
The focus on CCTV may be an attempt to bring other powerful political barons to heel.
Judged the most valuable propaganda tool at the disposal of the Chinese government, CCTV has seen its influence rise to dizzying heights in the past decade, but Beijing periodically clips the media’s wings if someone is judged to have not sufficiently toed the party line.
Targeting one of the most notorious figures at CCTV and the most politically exposed, might have been intended as a warning to control the broadcaster.
While Beijing keeps a tight rein on domestic media, reforms over the past decade have allowed limited editorial independence. The rise of social media such as Twitter and services such as Weibo and WeChat have also weakened government control.
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