Chinese soccer fans are streamed a censored feed of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as politicians desperately try to stop images of large, unmasked crowds reaching the local population as they protest against harsh COVID measures.
FIFA tightly controls the vision shown from the World Cup, and every country except China receives the same feed.
A comparison of footage of the Cup shows that the China Central Television (CCTV) Broadcasting Company is intercepting visions of the tournament and doctoring crowd shots using a 30-second delay.
Images such as this wide shot of Canadian fans during a FIFA World Cup match against Croatia have been blocked from reaching China
Vision showing fans without masks removed As much of the world moves past pandemic lockdown measures, China still faces harsh restrictions under its Covid Zero policy.
Some regions of the People’s Republic of China are still in lockdown, Chinese residents have been forced to undergo Covid tests every day, and large street protests have erupted with demonstrators calling for politicians to resign.
The protests have intensified since a massive fire that killed 10 people two days ago at the Urumqi unit compound in western Xinjiang region. The building was closed despite being classified as low risk for Covid.
Covid Zero, the strict policy implemented by China’s President Xi Jinping, has been widely criticized as the virus surges along with a record number of cases nationwide.
Civil disobedience has increased across the country, including passive protests and outright opposition to the Communist Party, Jinping and the controversial policy.
Bill Birtles, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) East Asia correspondent, shows the startling difference in vision that China is receiving by comparing it side-by-side with the SBS World Cup feed that Australians are enjoying.
‘So I thought it was BS that China’s official broadcaster was censoring shots of fans at the World Cup as back home. But it’s true,’ he posted on Twitter.
‘Here are the live feeds from SBS and CCTV (which is delayed by 32 seconds). As @DreyerChina explained, CCTV avoids crowding up close:
Instead of the crowd, CCTV sight focused on tight shots on the sidelines and footage of Canada coach John Herdman was shown today while fans around the rest of the world celebrated
‘ Here’s Canada’s goal from that same match. Int’l feed everyone off fans of the show. CCTV replaces those shots with a feed of coaches or wide shots. Saw 2 games – very clear. It’s incomplete though – a cheering fans shot in replays:
‘So the usual suspects will claim that China’s state TV CCTV isn’t censoring close-ups of the crowd because some of the shots through… or they choose to use different shots… but it’s pretty clear . However a colleague in Beijing told me he didn’t see anything unusual,’ he concluded with a laughing emoji.
Former Sky Sports, Fox Sports and AP Sports employee Mark Dreyer created China Sports Insider in 2013 and has also pointed out the censored vision on Twitter.
‘Some people are still refusing to watch it, so decided to track it down. Within a minute, there it was: close-up shots of Canadian and Croatian fans on the BBC/international feed, replaced by a single shot of Canadian coach John Herdman on CCTV,’ he posted.
‘Moments later, Croatia scored. The rest of the world saw shots of the happy Croatian fans, but CCTV showed close-ups of shots of the two coaches. Calm down the matter.
The censorship comes at the same time that a BBC journalist covering an anti-lockdown protest in China was arrested during wild protests over Xi Jinping’s dictatorship and Covid lockdown in seven Chinese cities including Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou.
The BBC’s Edward Lawrence is a camera operator for the corporation’s China bureau and was filmed being dragged away by Xi officials as he desperately shouted, ‘Call the consulate now!’ Making friends.
Hours before his arrest, Lawrence had tweeted: ‘I am on the scene of last night’s extraordinary anti-Covid-Zero protest in Shanghai. Many people are gathered here watching silently. Lots of policemen. Two girls laid flowers, which were promptly removed by the police. A man was driving by raising the middle finger at the police. #Shanghai’.
Police officers detain people protesting against COVID restrictions at the site of a candlelight vigil for victims of the Urumqi fire in Shanghai
He was held for several hours before being released and a BBC spokesman said they were concerned about his treatment.
“The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering protests in Shanghai,” the spokesperson said.
People gather for a vigil and hold white sheets of paper in protest against COVID restrictions, as they remember the victims of the Urumqi fire, as the COVID outbreak continues in Beijing
‘During his arrest, the police beat him with kicks and punches. This happened when he was working as an accredited journalist.
He said, ‘It is very worrying that one of our journalists was attacked like this in the line of duty. We have no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officers, who later released them, that they arrested them for their own good in case they caught Covid from the crowd. We do not consider this a credible explanation.
