I used to work at CCTV-9. Unless the system has changed since I left in late 2005, it does not work in the way you and Michael Bristow describe.

What pops up when you log on is a notice header with a subject, usually “important notice” which you have to click through to get to your message inbox. Once in the inbox, all the notices still on the system, including the directives, are listed. However, once you click open your notices they are considered read. If you then log off and log on again, you do not get the pop up, which only appears when you have unread notices in your inbox, regardless of whether they are directives or something more mundane. In other words, you only get the logon reminder if you have any unread notices in your inbox. But only in that case.

When I was there, most of the notices on the system were technical: broadcast changes, satellite shifts, etc., which people sometimes don’t bother clicking open. This may explain why some people get the pop up reminder every time they log on. Non-Chinese speakers might ignore the message system too, forcing a pop up every time they log on.

What struck me about the internal messaging system at CCTV-9 was how few directives on reporting guidelines there were on it, rather than how many.

Best Regards.
John Jirik.
PhD. Candidate,
Radio TV Film Dept.
The University of Texas at Austin.

But I disagree with your clarification here. Yes, instructions are given. However, these messages only appear in the pop-up box if the individual user hasn’t read them. They’re like emails that stay unread in an inbox. Once they’ve been opened, they disappear. Important notices are stored in an archive, but they’re not on the screen as a daily reminder unless they are still unread.

I also disagree that these instructions apply indefinitely. Some do, some don’t. At one extreme end of the spectrum we decided that a direct order from the government (these are rare in this context) no longer applied several hours after it was given. No notice was given that the order had been rescinded. It just no longer made any sense. Other notices can be safely ignored after a day or a week etc. It depends on the time and the issue.

As the article points out, a number of journalists and media in China push the boundaries. And as you know, these boundaries move from one time to another and vary from one medium to another. CCTV tends to be on the conservative side.

The article is accurate. The notice pops up EVERYTIME you log in. It doesn’t really matter whether these instructions on the pop-up are updated daily, weekly, or monthly. The point of the piece is that there ARE instructions on what can be reported. And these instructions apply to you the day they were put up, and the day after, and the day after that etc.

kind regards

Paul Danahar
BBC Asia Bureau Chief, Beijing