Administrative Regulation Television Entertainment Content

With the establishment and development of reform, opening to the outside world and socialism market economy system, the roles of the television stations of our country are changed from the public institutions, which purely publicize the main political stream ideology, to the main market players, which place extra emphasis on the information providing and entertainment services, simultaneously. During this period, their roles are undergone the process from originally excessive retrogressing of the seriousness to reinforcing of the recreation, gradually. But, based on the needs of market competition, the individual television station gradually played down its ideology publicizing function, at the same time, reinforced its impacts on popularization and entertainment, in order to meet the lower level aesthetic tastes of the audiences, and strive for higher audience ratings. Therefore, the unhealthy tendencies of the similarity form and vulgarization content are appearing. At one hand, this situation could not meet the audience’s needs for various audio-visual entertainments, and damage the rationalization and healthy development of the whole structure of TV and radio industry. On the other hand, these tendencies are helpless to the formation of healthy, objective, and rational national spirits. On the contrary, they could induce and facilitate the cultivating and overspreading of the public arbitrary. As the administrative service division of Chinese State Council for radio and television, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), has the administrative power and is in charge of the "supervising the Radio, Film and Television program, audio-visual program of information network and public vectors of audio-visual programs, reviewing their content and quality"."Cutback on TV entertainment" belongs to its behavior of exercising administrative authority. According to its nature, it has two aspects:on one hand, from the sense of its administration for all levels of broadcasting, is a kind of internal notice within administrative systems, and its content is the directions and instructions from higher level administrative department to the lower level offices, which belongs to the range of internal act; on the other hand, according to its significance to the television stations,"cutback on TV entertainment" is the behavior of SARFT to exercise its administrative power, and affects the autonomy in management for the program production and broadcasting of television stations, therefore, it belongs to external administrative act.As for the scope of regulation,"the administrative decree of entertainment cutback" only for those, who did not violate the "Regulations" of radio and TV management, but, there are important flaws in their contents, styles, and aesthetic tastes in the TV program. Under these circumstances, the counter-measures adopted mainly included criticizing, educating and administrative commands and so on to correct their behaviors. Outwardly, all of them are undoubtedly legal and valid. But inwardly, from their contents, SARFT has already moderated in the designated "cutback on TV entertainment", and double limitations are adopted for the regulated objects:at first, for the satellite channels, those have larger coverage, and have wider audiences;then, within the satellite channels, comprehensive satellite channels (CSCS) are selected as regulation object. From this sense, compared with other non-satellite channels, and the satellite channels other than comprehensive satellite channels,"cutback on TV entertainment" had different treatment, executing extra regulations, yet not violating the rules of administrative equality. Furthermore, the extra regulations on the CSCS by "the administrative decree of entertainment cutback" on their quantities and measures did not exert significant effects for the majority of TV audiences to entertain the programs and satisfy themselves, because they have very plentiful interchangeable pathways to select.Although it is the general options for the TV stations to arrange different types of programs according the rates of time allotment all over the world, based on their different legal systems of radio and television. It is obviously interfered the management autonomy of the TV stations and lack of validity for the administrative departments specifically to formulate the daily news program quantities, time schedules, and further to request the TV stations to set up some particular ideological building programs.In a word,"the administrative decree of entertainment cutback" concentrative presented the transitivity and complexity of the management system of China Radio and Television Broadcasting industry. The only reliable outlet to eventually resolve all these above problems is to reform continually:the legislators must jump out of the current regulation states of sporadic legislation and individualized intervening measures, within the frame of order of constitutional norms, centered on "media freedom", actively construct perfect normative legal system of radio and television industry, at the same time, and bestow the judicial branch more important role for investigation and supervision, while guarantee the radio and television industry have the right to seek for judicial remedy in the face of administrative acts.