CCTV graft scandal forces international film forum to move venue to Hong Kong
Event originally slated for Beijing, but host CCTV 'unable to perform duties'
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 10 September, 2014, 3:42pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 10 September, 2014, 5:24pm
Raquel Carvalho [email protected]
Liu Wen, CCTV's documentary channel chief, has been detained for graft. His department would have helped CCTV host the international documentary conference. Photo: SCMP
A major international conference on documentaries supposed to be held in Beijing in November has had to relocate to Hong Kong after an anti-corruption crackdown hit the event’s host – state-run China Central Television (CCTV) – this summer.
The World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, a conference that attracts worldwide broadcasters, producers and distributors, was going to hold its annual convention in the Chinese capital, hosted by CCTV-9, the documentary channel of the state broadcaster.
However, a deepening corruption probe and multiple detentions of senior executives at the station have thrown a wrench in the organisers’ plans.
“CCTV was slated to act as host broadcaster for the event in Beijing, but we mutually agreed it may not be the best time for them to fully perform that role,” the conference’s spokesman Jonathan da Silva told to the South China Morning Post.
The congress is now scheduled to take place at Kowloon Shangri-La hotel in Hong Kong from November 18 to 21.
A screenshot of the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers website. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Some 20 officials and staff from CCTV have been placed under investigation in the last few months.
Guo Zhenxi, director of advertising and head of CCTV-2, the financial news channel, along with his deputy Li Yong, and producer Tian Liwu have been taken into custody on allegations of corruption.
CCTV-9’s director, Liu Wen, who participated in the congress last year, has also been detained, along with the high-profile economic news anchor Rui Chenggang.
Liu has been arrested in connection with alleged financial wrongdoings in the purchase of documentaries from outside producers and also with improper benefits from product placements in popular documentaries, news website Caixin.com reported at the end of July.
In August, Huang Haitao, the deputy director of CCTV-8, the network’s TV drama channel, became the latest executive of the state-run television to be taken away by prosecutors.
The chain of events that have affected the state broadcaster came as a surprise for the organisation of the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers. Its board of directors said in an e-mail sent to participants on September 4 that CCTV-9 “has experienced some very unexpected and significant management changes in recent weeks” and the impact of such changes on the summit was unclear.
“After much discussion that weighed all the known circumstances and considered some yet unknown factors”, the organisation said it had unanimously decided to move the event to Hong Kong.
The group guaranteed that the “decision has not been taken lightly”, and that it would ensure that the congress – its atmosphere, the networking and business opportunities as well as discussions – “will be fully maintained”.
A participant in the congress, K. Lee Lerner, said the change “induces uncertainty only with regard to logistics”.
However, that is something most participants are used to, said Lerner, founder and senior commissioning editor for LernerMedia Global, which operates in England, France and the US.
Lerner – who also joined the event in Paris in 2011 – said “both Beijing and Hong Kong are dynamic venues”.
According to the organisation, the conference typically draws between 500 to 700 international broadcasters, producers and distributors. Last year’s congress was held in Montreal and it gathered 674 participants from 26 countries.
