CCTV FOLLIES 7.28 EVEN WHEN XI IS NOT SEEN HE IS STILL HEARD, AND MAYBE HURTING
Another news day with Xi on the sidelines. Vacation? Tactical retreat? Recovery? Mao-style feint? Friction with the military? With the grand stage empty, CCTV turns to the chorus to sing his praise.
As was the case in yesterday’s evening news broadcast, the titular leader gets a fleeting titular head shot, but no other news of him or his activities. It’s hardly a news blackout, as Xi’s heavy-handed thumbprints permeate CCP political discourse, but it represents a diminution of the usual over-the-top Xi coverage.
Even the many, many vox populi interviews that follow (filling the top slot normally reserved for Xi) are more likely to single out CCP policy for praise than focus on the (not-shown) paramount leader.
Of course, Xi policy and Xi sunsets, along with the usual iconic shots of tractors, container ports and misty mountains are everywhere, and such images have clear associations with the top dog. After years of personality cult coverage, the effectively groomed CCTV viewer will now, by sheer Pavlovian reaction, associate misty landscapes, ruddy sunsets, tractor parades and container ports with Xi, whether he appears in the flesh or not.
