‘Zero Dark Thirty’ One of Biggest Mid-Week Limited Debuts Ever






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “Zero Dark Thirty” has been slammed by several senators for its depiction of torture, but the issue only appears to have helped it at the box office.


Director Kathryn Bigelow‘s dramatization of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden racked up an estimated $ 124,848 in five theaters in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday. That’s an average of $ 24,969, making it one of the biggest limited mid-week openings in history.






Other Oscar-bait films in limited release scored far less in their debuts. “American Beauty” grossed $ 73,000 in 6 theaters and “Little Miss Sunshine” grossed $ 66,000 in 7 showings on their opening days.


The film arrives in theaters boasting four Golden Globe nods, including a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and a boatload of strong reviews.


In Slate, Dana Stevens praised the film for its unflinching depiction of the global manhunt.


“Zero Dark Thirty, as single-minded and emotionally remote as its heroine, plays its cards so close to its vest that it’s impossible to tell,” Stevens wrote. “But this is a vital, disturbing, and necessary film precisely because it wades straight into the swamp of our national trauma about the war on terror and our prosecution of it, and no one – either on the screen or seated in front of it – comes out clean.”


Not everyone has loved “Zero Dark Thirty”s’ moral ambiguity, however. Senators John McCain, Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin have criticized the film for seeming to argue that torture helped the CIA locate bin Laden.


In a letter to Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, the senators said that the studio should state that the film is a work of fiction and its depiction of torture’s role in the operation to find bin Laden is fictitious.


In a statement provided to TheWrap, Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal said critics were taking the torture scene out context.


“This was a 10-year intelligence operation brought to the screen in a two-and-a-half-hour film. We depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden,” the statement reads. “The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes.”


“Zero Dark Thirty” stars Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton and Chris Pine. It opens in wide release on January 11.


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Kenya police: 28 people killed in clashes






NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A police official says 28 people have been killed in clashes between farmers and herders in south-eastern Kenya.


Anthony Kamitu, who is leading police operations to prevent the attacks, said Friday that the Pokomo tribe of farmers raided a village of the Orma herding community, called Kipao, at dawn in the Tana River Delta.






The latest deaths in a tit-for-tat cycle of killings may be related to a redrawing of political boundaries and next year’s general elections, according to the U.N.


At least 110 people were killed in clashes between the Pokomo and Orma in September and October.


Animosity between the two communities over land and water resources has existed for decades.


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European watchdog starts safety review of Merck cholesterol drug






LONDON (Reuters) – The European Medicines Agency said it has launched a review of Merck & Co Inc‘s cholesterol drug Tredaptive after the medicine failed a U.S. trial assessing its effectiveness and safety.


Although the commercial fallout from any decision to pull the drug from the market in Europe would be limited, it would be a blow to Merck‘s reputation.






Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson estimates that Tredaptive sales in Europe and other non-U.S. markets are running at only around $ 50 million a year, compared to Merck’s overall revenue of $ 47 billion.


The drug is designed to raise “good” HDL cholesterol but the 25,000 patient study found it didn’t do better at preventing heart attacks, deaths or strokes than traditional statin drugs that lower “bad” LDL cholesterol.


The large-scale trial also found that patients taking the drug suffered more non-fatal but serious side effects than those only taking statins.


The medicine was approved for use in Europe in 2008, but U.S. regulators were unwilling to approve it until Merck conducted the costly long-term study to better assess its safety and effectiveness.


Merck said on Thursday that it no longer planned to seek regulatory approval for the drug in the United States and recommended that doctors did not start new patients on Tredaptive in countries where it is already available.


The regulator backed that advice on Friday, but added that patients currently using the drug should speak a doctor at their next appointment but not stop their treatment.


Tredaptive is sold under the brand name Pelzont in Italy and Trevaclyn in both Italy and Portugal. A decision on the future of the drug in Europe is expected in January.


(Reporting by Chris Wickham; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)


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State Department security chief leaves post over Benghazi






WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday its security chief had resigned from his post and three other officials had been relieved of their duties following a scathing official inquiry into the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.


Eric Boswell has resigned effective immediately as assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a terse statement. A second official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Boswell had not left the department entirely and remained a career official.






Nuland said that Boswell, and the three other officials, had all been put on administrative leave “pending further action.”


An official panel that investigated the incident concluded that the Benghazi mission was completely unprepared to deal with the attack, which killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.


The unclassified version of the report, which was released on Tuesday, cited “leadership and management” deficiencies, poor coordination among officials and “real confusion” in Washington and in the field over who had the authority to make decisions on policy and security concerns.


“The ARB identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of (Near Eastern) Affairs,” Nuland said in her statement, referring to the panel known as an Accountability Review Board.


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted Boswell’s decision to resign effective immediately, the spokeswoman said.


Earlier, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Boswell, one of his deputies, Charlene Lamb, and a third unnamed official has been asked to resign. The Associated Press first reported that three officials had resigned.


PANEL STOPS SHORT OF BLAMING CLINTON


The Benghazi incident appeared likely to tarnish Clinton’s four-year tenure as secretary of state but the report did not fault her specifically and the officials who led the review stopped short of blaming her.


“We did conclude that certain State Department bureau-level senior officials in critical positions of authority and responsibility in Washington demonstrated a lack of leadership and management ability appropriate for senior ranks,” retired Admiral Michael Mullen, one of the leaders of the inquiry, told reporters on Wednesday.


The panel’s chair, retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering, said it had determined that responsibility for security shortcomings in Benghazi belonged at levels lower than Clinton’s office.


“We fixed (responsibility) at the assistant secretary level, which is, in our view, the appropriate place to look for where the decision-making in fact takes place, where – if you like – the rubber hits the road,” Pickering said after closed-door meetings with congressional committees.


The panel’s report and the comments by its two lead authors suggested that Clinton, who accepted responsibility for the incident in a television interview about a month after the Benghazi attack, would not be held personally culpable.


Pickering and Mullen spoke to the media after briefing members of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee behind closed doors on classified elements of their report.


Clinton had been expected to appear at an open hearing on Benghazi on Thursday, but is recuperating after suffering a concussion, dehydration and a stomach bug last week. She will instead be represented by her two top deputies.


Clinton, who intends to step down in January, said in a letter accompanying the review that she would adopt all of its recommendations, which include stepping up security staffing and requesting more money to fortify U.S. facilities.


The National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, which is expected to go to Congress for final approval this week, includes a measure directing the Pentagon to increase the Marine Corps presence at diplomatic facilities by up to 1,000 Marines.


Some Capitol Hill Republicans who had criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attacks said they were impressed by the report.


“It was very thorough,” said Senator Johnny Isakson. Senator John Barrasso said: “It was very, very critical of major failures at the State Department at very high levels.” Both spoke after the closed-door briefing.


Others, however, took a harsher line and called for Clinton to testify as soon as she is able.


“The report makes clear the massive failure of the State Department at all levels, including senior leadership, to take action to protect our government employees abroad,” Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.


Senator Bob Corker, who will be the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the new Congress is seated early next year, said Clinton should testify about Benghazi before her replacement is confirmed by the Senate.


Republicans have focused much of their firepower on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who appeared on TV talk shows after the attack and suggested it was the result of a spontaneous protest rather than a premeditated attack.


The report concluded that there was no such protest.


Rice, widely seen as President Barack Obama’s top pick to succeed Clinton, withdrew her name from consideration last week.


(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Christopher Wilson)


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Thousands mourn U.S.-Mexican singer Jenni Rivera






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thousands of mourners on Wednesday packed a Los Angeles theater to pay their final respects to Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera more than a week after her death in a plane crash.


Rivera, 43, best known for her work in the Mexican folk Nortena and Banda genres, died after the small jet she was traveling in crashed in northern Mexico on December 9.






Rivera’s family, dressed in white, led the memorial service eulogizing the singer. A bank of white roses was displayed in front of Rivera’s bright red coffin and a brass band performed musical interludes.


More than 6,000 people crowded into the theater about 30 miles north of her childhood home in Long Beach, California. Tickets for the service at the Gibson Amphitheatre sold out within minutes, organizers said.


The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Rivera was called the “Diva de la Banda.” She sold about 15 million albums and earned a slew of Latin Grammy nominations during her 17-year career.


“Jenni made it OK for women to be who they are,” her manager Pete Salgado said at the service. “Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing, with the hopes of being something.”


Rivera had five children, the first at age 15, and was married three times. Her third husband was baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza. Rivera’s private life influenced her songs, which often referenced living through hardship.


“She’s a fighter and she knows it’s in all of us,” Rivera’s son Michael said between video tributes.


In recent years, Rivera branched out into television, appearing on a reality television show and serving as a judge on the Mexican version of the singing competition “The Voice.” Television broadcaster ABC was reported to be developing a comedy pilot for the singer.


Rivera’s plane crashed in mountains south of Monterrey killing all seven on board.


The singer was to perform in the city of Toluca, 40 miles southwest of Mexico City, in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey. It is not clear what caused the crash.


(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Stacey Joyce)


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FCA releases two new reports on important role of family caregivers in reducing negative outcomes for patients






Increased training, support and recognition are needed by families as healthcare increasingly moves into home settings


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance has released two new reports that shine a light on the important roles of family caregivers in U.S. healthcare—and how those caregivers are often unrecognized and unsupported within medical and long-term service systems.






Family Caregiving and Transitional Care: A Critical Review is an examination of the often ignored — yet absolutely essential — role of caregiving families as patients transition from one healthcare setting to another, for example discharge from hospital to home or hospital to rehab facility.


The report notes that although family caregivers are usually the individuals who will actually implement care plans following release from the hospital, they are rarely actively included in discharge planning; worse, their training, even for complex medical procedures, is often insufficient. The all-too-common result: preventable negative outcomes for patients.


The report looks at ways family caregivers characterize their experiences when a transition occurs and they are expected to take on challenging care tasks such as direct medical treatments (e.g., monitoring ventilators or home dialysis), managing medications, and coordinating essential medical services. Transition decisions made hurriedly at the point of discharge can change patient outcomes, and can be implicated in costly hospital readmissions, serious medication errors and omissions in follow-up treatment.


The authors state, “As the US continues its pressing search for ways to contain healthcare costs and improve quality, the one group whose role has been largely ignored is the nation’s 41 million family caregivers… Family caregivers are a critical missing link in improving transitional care for frail older adults with disabilities.”


The report also examines the relatively few model transitional care programs that do support family caregivers, and concludes with recommendations on improvements needed for practice, research and public policy.


Authors: Mary Jo Gibson, MA, whose career spans 30 years of work on family caregiving, health and long-term services and supports (LTSS) policy; Kathleen Kelly, MPA, Executive Director of Family Caregiver Alliance, the National Center on Caregiving and the Bay Area Caregiver Resource Center; and Alan K. Kaplan, MSc, JD, who has more than 30 years of experience on patients’ rights, medical peer review and Medicare quality assurance issues. The report is available at: http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content/pdfs/FamCGing_TransCare_CritRvw_FINAL10.31.2012.pdf


A second report, Selected Caregiver Assessment Measures: A Resource Inventory for Practitioners, was developed for researchers and program developers to accurately assess the knowledge and well-being of family caregivers as they perform the tasks necessary to maintain the health of their ill or elderly relatives. It is the second edition and follow-up for the first Resource Inventory, published by Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving in 2002.


Many family caregivers have multiple, varied and serious unmet financial, physical, emotional and social needs which require attention. As healthcare continues to move into home settings, it is important not only to assess the skills and capacity of caregivers to provide care, but also to address caregiver well-being and health in order to prevent more serious health problems for families in the long-term. Valid, reliable assessment tools are necessary to gauge families’ abilities to continue providing care.


The Resource Inventory provides a compendium of caregiver assessment measures that are practice-oriented, practical and applicable, and which address the multidimensional aspects of the caregiving experience.


“As the population ages and caregiving needs increase throughout the country, the essential role families play in the healthcare system is undeniable,” said FCA’s Kathleen Kelly. “At the same time, healthcare budgets are severely stressed and resources strained. Whether family caregivers provide transportation, food preparation, help with personal care or complex medical care such as dealing with wound care or feeding tubes, they are involved at every level. Unfortunately, caregivers’ needs are often unassessed, unrecognized, or even worse, ignored.”


The Resource Inventory was developed by Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving in collaboration with the Margaret Blenkner Research Institute of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. It was compiled by Sarah Schwartz, MSSA and Laura Darlak, BA, under supervision of Carol J. Whitlatch, PhD, with oversight by Kathleen Kelly, MPA. David M. Bass, PhD, was the reviewer. The report is available at: http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content/pdfs/SelCGAssmtMeas_ResInv_FINAL_12.10.12.pdf


Family Caregiver Alliance and its National Center on Caregiving offer local and national programs to support and sustain the important work of families and friends caring for loved ones with chronic, disabling health conditions. A wealth of caregiving advice, resource listings, newsletters, fact sheets, research reports, policy updates, discussion groups, and the Family Care Navigator are available free on the FCA website. Visit http://www.caregiver.org or call (800) 445-8106 for more information.


SOURCE Family Caregiver Alliance


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Daily funerals now routine in Newtown


NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A season that should be a time of joy has been marked by heart-wrenching loss in Newtown, as more victims from the massacre of 20 children and six adults are laid to rest.


At least nine funerals and wakes were held Wednesday for those who died when gunman Adam Lanza, armed with a military-style assault rifle, broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire. Lanza killed his mother at her home before the attack and committed suicide at the school as police closed in.


On Thursday, five funerals and six wakes were planned, and more tributes were scheduled for Friday and Saturday.


"The first few days, all you heard were helicopters," said Dr. Joseph Young, an optometrist who attended one funeral and would go to several more. "Now at my office all I hear is the rumble of motorcycle escorts and funeral processions going back and forth throughout the day."


At St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church on Wednesday, mourners arrived for Caroline Previdi, an auburn-haired 6-year-old with an impish smile, before the service had even ended for Daniel Barden, a 7-year-old who dreamed of being a firefighter.


"It's sad to see the little coffins," said the Rev. John Inserra, a Catholic priest who worked at St. Rose for years before transferring to a church in Greenwich.


"It's always hard to bury a child," Inserra said of the seemingly unrelenting cycle of sorrow and loss. "God didn't do this. God didn't allow this. We allowed it. He said, 'Send the little children to me.' But he didn't mean it this way."


Hundreds of firefighters formed a long blue line outside the church for Daniel's funeral. Two of his relatives work at the Fire Department of New York, and the gap-toothed redhead had wanted to join their ranks one day.


At Caroline's funeral, mourners wore pink ties and scarves — her favorite color — and remembered her as a New York Yankees fan who liked to kid around. "Silly Caroline" was how she was known to neighbor Karen Dryer.


"She's just a girl that was always smiling, always wanting others to smile," Dryer said.


Across town, at Christ the King Lutheran Church, hundreds gathered for the funeral of Charlotte Helen Bacon, many wearing buttons picturing the 6-year-old redhead. Speakers, including her grandfather, told of her love of wild animals, the family's golden retriever and the color pink.


She was "a beautiful little girl who could be a bit stubborn at times, just like all children," said Danbury resident Linda Clark as she left the service.


And in nearby Stratford, family and friends gathered to say goodbye to Victoria Soto, a first-grade teacher hailed as a hero for trying to shield her students, some of whom escaped. Musician Paul Simon, a family friend, performed "The Sound of Silence" at the service.


"She had the perfect job. She loved her job," said Vicky Ruiz, a friend since first grade.


In Woodbury, a line of colleagues, students and friends of slain Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, wrapped around the block to pay their respects to the administrator, who rushed the gunman in an effort to stop him and paid with her life. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended the service.


"She loved kids. She'd do anything to help them and protect them," said Joann Opulski, of Roxbury.


The symbol of Christmas took on a new meaning in Newtown, where one memorial featured 26 Christmas trees — one for each victim at the school.


Edward Kish said he bought a Christmas tree two days before the shooting but hasn't had the heart to put it up or decorate it.


"I'll still put it up, probably," he said. "It doesn't seem right, and it doesn't seem like Christmas."


___


Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed, Helen O'Neill, John Christoffersen, Katie Zezima and Pat Eaton-Robb in Newtown; Michael Melia in Hartford; and Larry Margasak in Washington and AP Business Writer Joshua Freed in Minneapolis.


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Facebook predicted to overtake Google in mobile display ad revenue this year






Shares of Facebook (FB) have begun to rebound since the company’s disastrous initial public offering this past May. After opening at $ 38 per share the company’s stock plummeted into the mid-20s over the summer months and eventually fell to a low of $ 17.55 in early September. Since then, however, Facebook shares have begun to bounce back after the company posted better-than-expected results in the third quarter. While Facebook stock is still down more than 25% on the year, it is rising steadily as analysts and investors become increasingly bullish about the company’s future as a leading advertising platform.


[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]






According to a new report from eMarketer, Facebook is predicted to surpass Google (GOOG) in mobile display advertising in 2012. Google is expected to generate $ 339 million in mobile ad revenue this year, a significant increase from previous estimates of between $ 45 and $ 100 million. The research firm notes that Facebook is expected to capture an 18.4% share of the mobile display ad market in the U.S. this year, compared to Google’s 17% share, which is down from 23% in 2011.


[More from BGR: New iMac early adopters upset that they can’t run Boot Camp]


“Major ad publishers are strengthening their offerings much faster than previously expected,” said Clark Fredricksen, vice president of communications at eMarketer. “I don’t think anybody thought after the second quarter that Google and Facebook would be in position that they are now in the mobile ad marketplace.”


The company’s mobile ad revenue is expected to more than triple by 2014 when it will reach an estimated $ 1.2 billion. The firm predicts that Facebook and Google will continue to battle for the No.1 spot in the mobile ad market over the next few years. Facebook is expected to increase its lead to 25.2% in 2013, compared to Google’s 19.6% share. Google is estimated to bounce back in 2014, however, with a market leading 23.1% share, ahead of Facebook’s 22.7% share.


Despite the impressive numbers, eMarketer notes that mobile still represents a small slice of the total advertising market. In 2012, only 2.4% of total ad spending in the U.S. is expected to go towards mobile ads, but the market is expected to reach an 11% share by 2016 when it surpasses both radio and print spending.


This article was originally published by BGR


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Manhunt intensifies for two escaped bank robbers in Chicago



The manhunt for two bank robbers who escaped from a downtown Chicago
prison this week intensified overnight, with police chasing multiple
leads as new footage shows the men getting into a taxi minutes after
their brazen escape.



Investigators say surveillance cameras captured Joseph "Jose" Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38,
getting into a taxi minutes after their early Tuesday escape. They entered the taxi at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Congress Street, just blocks away from the jail.



The FBI considers them "armed and dangerous."



The men then showed up five hours later at the home of Sandy Conley, Kenneth Conley's mother, in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Ill.



"He was in the house for two minutes," Sandy Conley said. "I can't tell you if he was armed. I made him get out."



Thomas Trautmann of the Chicago FBI said the clock is ticking on finding the men.



"[As] each hour goes by, our chances get longer and longer," he said. "However, we do have several viable leads that we are running down."



He did not specify the information.



Banks and Conley were last seen Monday at 10 p.m. during a prison head count at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago's Loop district. The two borrowed a move from the film "Escape From Alcatraz" by stuffing their beds with clothes in the shape of bodies.



They men then broke the window of their cell at the federal prison, shimmying out a hole only inches wide, and scaled down the side of the building 17 stories, all the while holding onto a rope of sheets and towels taken from the prison. The rope was strong enough to support the two, one weighing 165 pounds the other 185 pounds.



At 7 a.m. the next morning, as employees arrived at work, they noticed the sheets left dangling from the building and at jailers discovered that Conley and Banks were missing.



While the men have had plenty of time to leave the area, there's no indication that they have, ABC 7 TV's public-safety expert Jody Weis said.



"There's a likelihood that they're going to stay here," Weis, a former Chicago police superintendent, said. "They'll have people they can trust. They can have people they can work with. There are going to be people that might be able to hide them out."



Banks, nicknamed "the second-hand bandit" because of the used clothing disguises he wore in several robberies, was convicted of armed robbery last week. His parting words to his judge, Rebecca Pallmeyer, were, "I'll be seeking retribution as well as damages ... you'll hear from me."



Conley had been in jail for several years.



Pallmeyer and others who presided over the men's cases have reportedly been offered protection.



"If they're willing to go down a sheet 17 floors, they're willing to take a chance," Weis said. "And I think you can draw your own conclusion as to what that might mean."



The FBI and U.S. Marshals are offering a combined reward of $60,000 to find the inmates and bring them back into custody.

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China’s airing of ‘V for Vendetta’ stuns viewers






BEIJING (AP) — Television audiences across China watched an anarchist antihero rebel against a totalitarian government and persuade the people to rule themselves. Soon the Internet was crackling with quotes of “V for Vendetta‘s” famous line: “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”


The airing of the movie Friday night on China Central Television stunned viewers and raised hopes that China is loosening censorship.






“V for Vendetta” never appeared in Chinese theaters, but it is unclear whether it was ever banned. An article on the Communist Party’s People’s Daily website says it was previously prohibited from broadcast, but the spokesman for the agency that approves movies said he was not aware of any ban.


Some commentators and bloggers think the broadcast could be CCTV producers pushing the envelope of censorship, or another sign that the ruling Communist Party‘s newly installed leader, Xi Jinping, is serious about reform.


“Oh God, CCTV unexpectedly put out ‘V for Vendetta.’ I had always believed that film was banned in China!” media commentator Shen Chen wrote on the popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo service, where he has over 350,000 followers.


Zhang Ming, a supervisor at a real estate company, asked on Weibo: “For the first time CCTV-6 aired ‘V for Vendetta,’ what to think, is the reform being deepened?”


The 2005 movie, based on a comic book, is set in an imagined future Britain with a fascist government. The protagonist wears a mask of Guy Fawkes, the 17th-century English rebel who tried to blow up Parliament. The mask has become a revolutionary symbol for young protesters in mostly Western countries, and it also has a cult-like status in China as pirated DVDs are widely available. Some people have used the image of the mask as their profile pictures on Chinese social media sites.


Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia wrote on Twitter, which is not accessible to most Chinese because of government Internet controls: “This great film couldn’t be any more appropriate for our current situation. Dictators, prisons, secret police, media control, riots, getting rid of ‘heretics’ … fear, evasion, challenging lies, overcoming fear, resistance, overthrowing tyranny … China’s dictators and its citizens also have this relationship.”


China’s authoritarian government strictly controls print media, television and radio. Censors also monitor social media sites including Weibo. Programs have to be approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, but people with knowledge of the industry say CCTV, the only company with a nationwide broadcast license, is entitled to make its own censorship decisions when showing a foreign movie.


“It is already broadcast. It is no big deal,” said a woman who answered the phone at movie channel CCTV-6. “We also didn’t anticipate such a big reaction.”


The woman, who only gave her surname, Yang, said she would pass on questions to her supervisor, which weren’t answered.


The spokesman for the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said he had noticed the online reaction to the broadcast. “I’ve not heard of any ban on this movie,” Wu Baoan said Thursday.


The film is available on video-on-demand platforms in China, where movie content also needs to be approved by authorities.


A political scientist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who used to work for CCTV said the film might have approval, or it could have been CCTV’s own decision to broadcast it.


“Every media outlet knows there is a ceiling above their head,” said Liu Shanying. “Sometimes we will work under the ceiling and avoid touching it. But sometimes we have a few brave ones who want to reach that ceiling and even express their discontent over the censor system.


“It is very possible that CCTV decided by itself” to broadcast the film, Liu said. If so, he added, it would have been “due to a gut feeling that China’s film censorship will be loosened or reformed.”


“V for Vendetta” was released in the United States in 2005 and around the world in 2006. China has a yearly quota on the numbers of foreign movies that can be imported on a revenue share basis, making it tough to get distribution approval. Other movies that failed to reach Chinese screens in 2006 include “Brokeback Mountain” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” Chinese moviegoers that year were able to see “Mission: Impossible III” with Tom Cruise and “The Painted Veil,” which was filmed in China and set in a Chinese village.


Warner Brothers, which produced and distributed “V for Vendetta,” declined to comment.


China doesn’t have a classification system, so all movies shown at its cinemas are open to adults and children of any age. A filmmaker and Beijing Film Academy professor, Xie Fei, published an open letter on Sina Weibo on Saturday calling for authorities to replace the movie censorship system that dates from the 1950s with a ratings system.


The airing of “V for Vendetta” raised some hopes about possible changes under Xi, who was publicly named China’s new leader last month. He has already announced a trimmed-down style of leadership, calling on officials to reduce waste and unnecessary meetings and pomp. His reforms are aimed at pleasing a public long frustrated by local corruption.


State media say they have reduced reports on officials’ trips as part of this drive. The official Xinhua News Agency warned this week that media outlets should “learn to play professionally in today’s information age as an increasingly picky audience is constantly” putting them under scrutiny.


An American business consultant and author with high-level Chinese contacts said there is no less commitment to one-party rule in China, so any media reforms will only go so far.


“You can’t have a totally free media as we would have in the West and still maintain the integrity of a one-party system,” said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who wrote the book “How China’s Leaders Think.” He said he thinks restrictions are being eased, “but it has to be limited.”


The new leadership has to tread carefully, Kuhn said, because in the age of the Internet, talk about reforms won’t be forgotten.


“High expectations, if they are not fulfilled, will create a worse situation,” he said.


___


AP researchers Flora Ji and Henry Hou contributed to this report.


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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