Too Many "Super Girls"?

In recent years, idol-inspired shows have become very popular in China. After "Super Girl", a singing contest lasting for 5 months, attracted nationwide audience in 2005, more and more media capitalize on this TV genre to make huge profit from commercial and SMS services. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued new rules restricting the length of this kind of program to a maximum of two and half year.

CCTV and some officials had criticized "Super Girl" as bad taste and having bad effect on people. Leung Wendao, a famous critic, asks why government officials always believe that they are smarter than ordinary people. A modern government should not act as a "baby-sitter". He suggests that media regulation focus on the people who might get hurt by media (such as sexual or racial discrimination) rather than the media message itself.

It is heard that more restriction would be imposed on TV industry. For example, some officials have been unhappy about too many TV show hosts from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Photo: S/L