New regulations from Sapprft

SAPPRFT has announced many of new regulations for TV, film and new media, which include banning play words on shows and limited broadcast content on new media.

SAPPRFT has released a circular banning the use of Internet idioms and other sayings that are plays on words from television shows and advertisements. The circular notes that those producers and TV execs that fall foul of this ruling should be removed from their positions.

China has a history of using literary puns to obliquely criticize those in power. This circular is sure to stop any of that kind of undesirable activity.

The head of the Online Audio Visual Program Department of SAPPRFT, recently gave in Shanghai where, among other things, he pointed out that traditional media is under higher levels of content scrutiny than that of online video players. 

The speech mostly focused, as many of them recently have, on how to interpret and implement policies flowing from Xi Jinping’s recent policy talks on media in China. This speech was no different exhorting listeners to insure that writers and artists do things like “hold high the banner of socialist core values to guide people to foster a correct nationality, and culture with a special emphasis on Chinese culture and the Chinese nation at its roots.” And “we should insist on the social and economic benefits of unity, patriotism and the Chinese traditional culture to implement programs that spread these messages, so that a positive energy to provide rich and healthy spiritual food for the masses is available.” Etc. etc. 

However, at the end of the speech was a point tacked on that noted that “some people” have used the vagueness of content rules on the Internet to promote unhealthy things. He went on to note that “if the content cannot be supported and broadcast by traditional media, it should not be promoted and broadcast by new media.”