Categories
Articles

Communist Party workplace materials for CCTV employees

You’ll never see CGTN come out and announce that it takes orders from the Communist Party of China, but it’s clear in the workplace who’s running the show. Party materials made specifically for CCTV (of which CGTN is a part) employees are littered throughout the newsroom.

I took some as souvenirs of my time working there.

"CCTV Party-Building"  an "internal" publication put out by China Central Television Communist Party Membership
“CCTV Party-Building” — an internal publication put out by the China Central Television Communist Party Membership Committee
Subtitle says (roughly): “Keep up with innovation and struggle” “Strive to create a world-class new mainstream media”
Party Member Study Notes
Party Member Study Notes
A fancy notepad provided by the China Central Television Party Membership Committee
Nov. 7, 2016, edition of Dian Shi Sheng Huo, a workplace newsletter put out by the China Central Television Communist Party Membership Committee
Nov. 7, 2016, edition of Dian Shi Sheng Huo, a workplace newsletter put out by the China Central Television Communist Party Membership Committee. Available on racks placed throughout headquarters.
March 30, 2018, edition of Dian Shi Sheng Huo
March 30, 2018, edition of Dian Shi Sheng Huo
CPC Political Life Guidelines
Booklet of guidelines on the Communist Party of China’s political life regulations. Put out by the People’s Publishing House in Nov. 2016

There was also a stack of the book “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” put out by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee. (Chinese, revealingly, has only one word for “propaganda” and publicity”. Authorities a few years back finally realized it looks better to translate it in English using the less truthful version. I stick with the right one.)

“Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, presented by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee

I tried to take one, but the stack sat near the supervising producer who said I couldn’t. She awkwardly offered some kind of vague half-wording reason that let her avoid stating the obvious: because I am not Chinese. (She and the other managing producer also several times accused me of being in the CIA or US Marines in a way that was joking-not joking.) Uncharacteristically, I never did bother to swipe one later.

The book on Xi Jinping Thought, I noticed one day, had appeared in the file holder on our work desk. Regretfully, I didn’t take it as a souvenir of my time at CGTN. But this image of the book combined with “CGTN: See the Difference” in the background better represents the time spent there.
For another image that perfectly represents present-day China, have a look at this official “mind map” of Xi Jinping Thought, published by the Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily so proles could get a grip on the profound complexities going on in their leader’s head.

The stack, I should note, went mostly untouched for well over a year and probably sits there to this day. Most of the Chinese staff themselves do not give one f— about such things. They roll their eyes and laugh at the over-the-top nature of the propaganda, even more than me. Not all Chinese are flag-waving nationalists — not even the ones working for government TV — just as not all Americans are gun-waving lunatics.