Fire in Beijing

[Guest]

[Guest]

Zhao Huayong, Director of CCTV attending the mourning ceremony

[xinhui]

as expected, but took them long enought to axe.






China Replaces Chief of CCTV - WSJ.com






China Replaces Chief of CCTV



By MEI FONG

BEIJING -- China's government said it is replacing the head of China Central Television, three months after a fire destroyed part of CCTV's glitzy new headquarters in Beijing and caused a major embarrassment for the huge state broadcaster.

In a brief report, state-run Xinhua news agency said 61-year-old Zhao Huayong is being replaced because he had reached retirement age. China's usual retirement age is 60.

The report didn't mention the February fire. It said Mr. Zhao is being succeeded by top propaganda official Jiao Li, vice minister of the publicity department of the Communist Party's Central Committee.

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Police block a road near the fire at the unfinished Mandarin Oriental hotel on Feb. 9. The tower was gutted by the fire, embarrassing the state broadcaster, CCTV. The building was intended to generate revenue for CCTV.
Getty Images

Police block a road near the fire at the unfinished Mandarin Oriental hotel on Feb. 9. The tower was gutted by the fire, embarrassing the state broadcaster, CCTV. The building was intended to generate revenue for CCTV.
Police block a road near the fire at the unfinished Mandarin Oriental hotel on Feb. 9. The tower was gutted by the fire, embarrassing the state broadcaster, CCTV. The building was intended to generate revenue for CCTV.
Police block a road near the fire at the unfinished Mandarin Oriental hotel on Feb. 9. The tower was gutted by the fire, embarrassing the state broadcaster, CCTV. The building was intended to generate revenue for CCTV.

Mr. Jiao was previously propaganda director for the northeastern province of Liaoning, which borders North Korea. He was one of the principals involved in helping launch China's first publicly traded publishing group, the Shanghai-listed Liaoning Publishing Group, in 2007.

He will take the helm at a difficult time for the state broadcaster. The CCTV fire on Feb. 9 initiated a storm of questioning about the institution's management. The fire was sparked by a display of illegal, industry-grade fireworks to mark the end of the Lunar New Year holiday near the nearly completed headquarters, which didn't yet have fire-prevention systems installed.

The fire gutted a boot-shaped tower, designed by Dutch architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Schereen, right next to the colossal main headquarters building. One firefighter died.

The destroyed building was intended to be a revenue generator for CCTV, with the top floors leased to luxury hotel Mandarin Oriental and the lower floors housing television studios intended both for rental and for CCTV's own use.

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Zhao Huayong at a memorial for a firefighter killed in the blaze.
Newscom

Zhao Huayong at a memorial for a firefighter killed in the blaze.


CCTV has said it still intends to move to its headquarters in time for celebrations later this year timed for the state broadcaster's half-century anniversary, as well as the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1. It isn't clear how this will be accomplished with the ruined building remaining an eyesore on Beijing's skyline.

CCTV said in a statement that it didn't authorize the fireworks show, but this claim was later undercut by a report on the state prosecutor's Web site saying the display -- estimated to cost $146,000 -- was the third in a series of annual Lunar New Year displays held on the building site. Authorities detained a dozen people.

Media analysts said they expected the fire's repercussions to extend beyond CCTV's midmanagement ranks.
—Sue Feng and Ellen Zhu contributed to this article.

[middle earth]

There was a small scale movement in China to boycott CCTV last year. It tells no lies like CNN, it keeps silent on ugly truths.

[xinhui]

Took them long enough...



China sentences 20 to jail for CCTV fire
The Associated Press: China sentences 20 to jail for CCTV fire
(AP)

BEIJING — China sentenced 20 people to jail Monday for their involvement in a deadly fire at the China Central Television's iconic headquarters, state media reported.

Xu Wei, the former head of CCTV's construction bureau, was sentenced to seven years in jail, after he pleaded guilty last month to playing a role in an illegal fireworks display that triggered the fire, according to a statement by the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Nineteen others who were being tried in the case were given sentences ranging from three years to six-and-a-half years in prison, Xinhua said.

Earlier news reports alleged that Xu had ignored safety warnings and ordered that the powerful pyrotechnics be used for the CCTV-funded Lunar New Year fireworks show last year.

The massive fire engulfed the futuristic complex in downtown Beijing, leaving one firefighter dead and eight others injured. The blaze whipped through the 520-foot (159-meter) Mandarin Oriental hotel on the compound, leaving its steel frame gutted.

The 5 billion yuan ($731 million) complex also houses the network's headquarters — a pair of enormous, leaning buildings of black glass and steel that were not damaged in the fire.

The others convicted and sentenced included CCTV staffers as well as employees from two construction companies that were responsible for fire prevention and security during the fireworks display.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.