Tales from Behind the Curtain
Okay... Let's see if I can post this message without getting my blog placed on the Ch!n3s3 Great F!r3w@ll list. I'm terribly sorry for how unreadable this post will be but I put a lot of trouble into putting this blog in a place where it's accessible from inside China and I'm not about to risk messing that all up now! I'm sure someone will be able to decipher the reference below.
A few weeks after arriving, I was at the French household watching SeeEnnEnn. At the time, they were playing short 30-second segments of old (decade or more) news stories with summaries and quick information on what's happened with people who were involved in the events. At that time, one piece came on discussing the T^2 incident here in 'eighty-nine. It covered what was going on with a particular person involved with the events. Actually, fairly interesting for a 30-second summary. We were watching and I remarked to AD that it was surprising we were allowed to even see this. Others also expressed surprise and the matter was dropped.
The next morning, as I was getting ready for work with the TV on and the same segment started. I had enough time to think, "Wow, I'm really surprised I'm allowed to see...". Then, of course, the TV blacked out (completely). It was my first experience with controls on television programs so it took me a few seconds to realize what had happened.
In the intervening months, this has happened a bunch more times (usually on SeeEnnEnn and BeeBeeSee, although Discovery has been blacked out as well). I keep thinking I would get used to it but I never do. I keep thinking that there's something wrong with TV/signal before I review what the story was about and realize that it was "edited" out of the broadcast signal.
Sounds like it would be a fun job to sit and watch television all day with your finger on the "cut" button (NOT).
A few weeks after arriving, I was at the French household watching SeeEnnEnn. At the time, they were playing short 30-second segments of old (decade or more) news stories with summaries and quick information on what's happened with people who were involved in the events. At that time, one piece came on discussing the T^2 incident here in 'eighty-nine. It covered what was going on with a particular person involved with the events. Actually, fairly interesting for a 30-second summary. We were watching and I remarked to AD that it was surprising we were allowed to even see this. Others also expressed surprise and the matter was dropped.
The next morning, as I was getting ready for work with the TV on and the same segment started. I had enough time to think, "Wow, I'm really surprised I'm allowed to see...". Then, of course, the TV blacked out (completely). It was my first experience with controls on television programs so it took me a few seconds to realize what had happened.
In the intervening months, this has happened a bunch more times (usually on SeeEnnEnn and BeeBeeSee, although Discovery has been blacked out as well). I keep thinking I would get used to it but I never do. I keep thinking that there's something wrong with TV/signal before I review what the story was about and realize that it was "edited" out of the broadcast signal.
Sounds like it would be a fun job to sit and watch television all day with your finger on the "cut" button (NOT).
posted by agoel at
5:52 PM
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