CHINA’S BROADCASTING watchdog has been hard at work censoring over the past few weeks, shutting down several much-loved reality shows and talent contests for their poor moral standards and for being too lowbrow.
The Chinese government also appears to have a problem with the air of democratic participation such programmes entail.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and TV cancelled Super Girl, the wildly popular equivalent of X Factor, after it apparently broke a cap on broadcasting time imposed by authorities to discourage affronts to morality.
This could be the first step in a broader crackdown on freewheeling TV content in China.
All of China’s broadcasters are tightly state-controlled and must adhere to tough rules on morality, as well as follow strict political guidelines.
Super Girlpeaked in the 2004- 2005 season, when more than 400 million people watched the final, nearly one-third of the Chinese population, and the winner, Li Yuchun, became a national celebrity.
In previous years, Super Girlhas been marked by a frenzy of voting by mobile phone for favoured candidates – a tricky phenomenon in a single-party state.
The Communist Party runs China and does not allow any other political parties or organisations outside its control to operate, even if that group happens to be fans of a singing teenager.
The broadcasters of Super Girl, Hunan Satellite Television, will not be allowed to screen "TV talent shows with mass participation" next year, its spokesman, Li Hao, told local media.
“Instead, the channel will air programmes that promote moral ethics, public safety and provide practical information for housework,” Mr Li said.
Episodes of the show were supposed to run for a maximum of 90 minutes, according to rules set in 2007, but they sometimes exceeded the limit.
The watchdog has also banned the movie channel of Shijiazhuang TV in north China’s Hebei province after one of its programmes “misrepresented events, magnified family conflict and depicted disrespect toward an elderly parent” in the reckless pursuit of ratings.
The channel had “magnified distorted ethics and moral values” and “caused extremely negative social effects”.
A talk show called Emotional Codesshowed a son treating his father disrespectfully and threatening to take him to court over money.
Producers said the entire scene had been scripted, but this was not seen as an adequate defence.
In 2007, Super Boy, another singing contest, was ordered to show only "healthy and ethically inspiring songs", avoid "gossip" and not show "bad taste" scenes of screaming fans or tearful losing contestants.