Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Critical News Blackout

This morning I decided after work I'd run on the treadmill at the hotel gym I go to.

I got out of the office at 5:30pm sharp hoping to catch a bus to get there by 6pm.

But when I got on the bus 10 minutes later, the bus assistant who makes sure everyone pays the fare, non-chalantly announced the bus wasn't going to stop at the hotel and neither was it stopping at Ikea either, the stop before.

So I had to get off at the next stop and soon after got on another bus.

But that bus assistant didn't tell me the bus wasn't going the usual route either. So I ended up in my neighbourhood somewhere, and no where near the hotel.

I had to take a taxi to get there. The frustration was already boiling inside me. This had never happened to me before. Had the route change been announced somewhere on the news and I didn't know?

So I finally got to the hotel and was relieved to be able to pound out my annoyance on the treadmill while watching the BBC, a banned network for Chinese residents.

But when a story came on about German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticizing China on HR, and I don't mean human resources, the screen immediately went black.

I looked around to see if anyone else was as surprised as I was, but the other people in the small gym were busy looking at other shows on TV. Moments later, the BBC was back on, as if it was a technical glitch.

It's good to know the cenors are on the ball when it comes to sensitive news. But can't someone tell me if my bus isn't going to go the route it's supposed to?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they don't touch the Simpsons! It jus ruins the jokes.

Anonymous said...

in a totalitarian system this is a regular practice like it or not. it is for the good the people not knowing too many things outside their own world thus easier to be governed. i dont know whether the simpsons passed the cencorship in china?