CCTV covered Hurricane Sandy extensively.
While China’s state-run CCTV covered Hurricane Sandy extensively, last week’s protests in Ningbo did not even get a nod. Netizens joked that all the Sandy news was for China’s numerous officials, “naked” and otherwise, whose wives and children (not to mention assets) are in the U.S. Others were too frustrated to even crack a joke. From Weibo:
JiaoshouTV: Those thoughtful Americans will cross the Great American Firewall and eagerly watch CCTV news as it reveals the reality of capitalism.
叫兽易小星：那些有思想的美国人，都会越过美国的网络封锁，如饥似渴地观看中国央视揭露资本主义真相的新闻。
wiseoldcrow: Only CCAV.
古道鸦：CCAV只能这样了。
Gongzhuanzizhuan: I cried! CCTV reporters traveled all the way to the U.S., fearlessly standing in the storm to report the hurricane, so that we could know the boundlessly evil American imperialists have been plunged into the abyss of suffering. We will definitely not immigrate to that miserable hellhole. I salute to your hard work!
公转字转：我哭了！央视记者这么大老远跑去美国，不惧强风雨站在现场报道飓风，让我们知道了万恶的美帝正处在水深火热之中，绝不移民到那多灾多难的鬼地方。你们辛苦了，像你们致敬！
MrThoughtful: As the hurricane hit the U.S., CCTV sent battalions of reporters across the miles and into hardship to cover the storm. Reporters spoke live as the wind whipped all around them. What kind of internationalism drove this? What kind of unprincipled spirit? Later on, I realized what was going on: this seemingly valueless live coverage was for the leaders to watch, since their wives and kids are all over there.
琢磨先生：美国飓风来临之际，央视派出多路记者不辞万里千辛万苦地前往现场报道。记者在风雨飘摇中直播着实况，这是怎样的一种国际情怀？这是怎么样的一种下血本精神？后来我想明白了，这个看似没有什么价值的直播，是给领导们看的，因为他们的老婆孩子在那里。
MurongAoao: CCTV is the Conscience-in-Media of the U.S.
慕容嗷嗷：央视是美国的良心媒体。
SkymanShineSalt: CCTV has a good service and the leaders are pretty happy with that. They like to have fun by setting a building on fire during the Lantern Festival. They rush to report the good news in our country and try everything to cover up the bad news. If there’s no good news, they’ll make some up to keep the leaders happy. As for any tiny piece of bad news in foreign countries, they will carry out lengthy, exaggerated coverage to demonstrate the decay of capitalism. They never report any good news from foreign countries. If I should silently die one day, I would rather die in Xinwen Lianbo (News Simulcast), because it is so wonderful there. Utopian CCTV!
天人发光的盐：央视的服务很好，领导很高兴，他们元宵喜欢点个楼玩玩，自己国家的好事抢着报导，坏事能瞒就瞒，没好事就编个让领导高兴，外国有屁点大的坏 事，他们要夸大的长篇的报道，以证明资本主义的腐朽，外国的好事他们从不报道。如果有一天我悄然死去，我愿意死在新闻联播里，因为那里太美好，乌托邦式的 央视！
29°32’N: The leaders’ are much more important than the rabble‘s kids.
北纬29度32分：领导的孩子们比P民的孩子重要多了。
Woodlain: I didn’t see you send so many reporters when water filled the imperial capital, or when folks protested in Hong Kong in October. You didn’t even dare to fart when stability maintenance got violent in Shifang and Ningbo! You are blind to the suffering around us, but you scoot your butts thousands of miles away to worry over the Americans. You still count yourselves as humans?
永远的大武：水漫帝京不见你们多路出击，香港十月围城不见你们多路出击，什邡、宁波的暴力维稳你们更是连个屁都不敢放！身边近在咫尺的灾祸你们视而不见，却不远万里屁颠屁颠地跑去操美国人的心，你们还算人吗？
Camelduck: You walk at night with a flashlight to shine your light on other people’s butts, never on your own! It seems that Ningbo folks could only count on American reporters.
雅鲁藏：打起电筒走夜路，光照人家屁股，不照自己！看来宁波人民的事情只能拜托人家美国记者了！
DoctorXuZhangrong: I just don’t get it. The news in China is very strange. Years ago, when the Gulf War broke out, that was the leading news around the world. But CCTV’s top story of the day was about some leader meeting with foreign guests. Only then came the Gulf War. Some of my doctor friends from other countries remarked on this that it’s hard to continue watching your news.
许樟荣医生：确实不理解。中国的新闻报道非常怪异。多年以前，海湾战争爆发，各国新闻都是头条新闻，我们的央视该日的头条新闻是某某领导会见某外宾。然后的新闻才是海湾战争爆发。对此，我的一些国外医生朋友说，你们的新闻很难看下去。
Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Mengyu Dong.
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