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China Announces Launch-Success Details — Before Launch
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Sep 25, 2008 05:43 PM
from the china's-government-!-china dept.
from the china's-government-!-china dept.
Ironsides writes "After faking the fireworks at the Olympics this year, one would have thought China had learned their lesson. Now, it appears they announced the success of their manned space mission before liftoff even occured, complete with dialogue."
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Olympic Opening Ceremony Fireworks Were (Partly) Faked 488 comments
A complete newb writes "London's Telegraph newspaper reports that some of the fireworks which appeared over Beijing during the television broadcast of the Olympic Opening Ceremony were actually computer generated. But — hold on — it's not necessarily as bad as you think. The faked fireworks were actually set-off at the stadium, but because of potential dangers in filming the display live from a helicopter, viewers at home were shown a pre-recorded, computer-generated shot." To me, the reasoning behind the faked display is no consolation or excuse — it seems hard to swallow that NBC was unaware of this televised deception. I'm glad that it was good-naturedly "revealed" this weekend (according to that Telegraph article), but it's disheartening that such a large crowd can watch (in person, and around the world) such a display and have no reason to realize they've been duped. What about when weightier events are at issue? There's also a slightly more detailed story at sky.com.
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Science: Chinese Astronauts Complete First Spacewalk 310 comments
As_I_Please writes "At 8:40AM (GMT) this morning, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang successfully spent 18 minutes in a tethered spacewalk outside the spacecraft Shenzhou 7. This is an important step in China's goal of building an orbiting space station and sending astronauts to the moon."
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What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:5, Funny)
Nothing like a guaranteed success
Re:What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:5, Funny)
They are going to hire Michael Jackson to train their astronauts to avoid that problem.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
the sad thing is, this deception was so unnecessary. i mean, obviously they didn't mean to post the article until after the launch. and in all likelihood the launch will probably be success, and even if the launch weren't people would eventually find out.
so why go through the trouble to write fake news about a space mission that you're planning on carrying out anyway? that defeats the purpose doesn't it?
Re:What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:4, Informative)
China wrote this article before the launch, so it could get it out as soon as success was confirmed, with little to no editing. Upon failure, articles such as this are suppose to be thrown out. This one never made it that far.
Parent
Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, and the obituary of every major public figure has already been written as well. Such prep pieces are responsible practice for newspapers that have to be ready on-the-spot.
This wasn't one of those pieces. This was an entire narrative complete with faked dialogue and details, such as being complete ahead of schedule. This wasn't preparation -- this was deception.
Unfortunately, lately we seem to have absolutely no room to talk, given the practices of our own "You-have-to-give-me-700-billion-dollars-right-now-no-questions-asked-or-there-will-be-disaster" government.
Parent
Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, and the obituary of every major public figure has already been written as well. Such prep pieces are responsible practice for newspapers that have to be ready on-the-spot.
This wasn't one of those pieces. This was an entire narrative complete with faked dialogue
Yes, it was one of those pieces. You'll find that lots of news agencies have prep obituaries with "faked" messages of condolences. It helps to structure the article if there's dummy content in there. They are removed and replaced with the real messages once the real condolence messages are made.
The same happened here. The "faked" dialogue was nothing more than dummy text.
Parent
Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. Any major news company does this kind of thing if there's a big event coming that they know about; it's just part of being prepared.
You can just imagine how it went down - ask an intern to draft a victorious announcement. Jazz it up with some dialogue, use your imagination, etc. Sure, posting it ahead of time was pretty dumb, but hardly the huge conspiracy of deception that the summary makes it out to be - how exactly could you fake a successful rocket launch, anyway? Or more so - hide an explosive failure?
Ridiculous. It's much ado about nothing. I bet this happens every day.
And as for the "fake fireworks", I have another revelation for everyone - did you see that man who ran in the air all around the stadium? See him? Well, prepare to have your mind blown. Are you ready? Sure you're really ready? OK, get this:
He wasn't really flying!
Parent
Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious. (Score:5, Insightful)
No, THEY didn't, your media outlet did.
How did you watch the games, by Chinese broadcast, or by your own country's broadcaster? I watched the intro on Australian, Canadian and American networks and got different views of the opening ceremonies.
One of those even bothered to point out that the footsteps were taped beforehand and given to the outlets as pre-made footage to be played.
Parent
Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious. (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps you wrote your reply in advance, not reading what you replied to, and accidentally posted it.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
is there really a difference in "corporate" condolences?
this is like the Steve Jobs oops that happened a few weeks ago.
Not dummy text, but easily anticipated quotes (Score:5, Informative)
From the article (which is quite poetic), the "dummy quotes" are all things that they will say (assuming they're not all killed before they get chance).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space_article_1 [yahoo.com]:
'One minute to go!'
'Changjiang No.1 found the target!'...
'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'
That guy that says "One minute", well every trial run that's what he said, it's part of the mission. The guy that says "Changjiang 1 on target", you guessed it, he says that so everyone knows it's on target. Air pressure, ..., someone checks it every few minutes and announces the results occasionally.
The only bit in the article that's a little weird is the "target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time". But they perhaps predicted a time 12 seconds late on purpose, or are just using that as a device to show how 1337 they are.
Imagine you're writing an article about Bush addressing the nation you might prep with:
"Bush had his usual statesman like swagger as he approached the dais, 'fellow Americans' he drawled, before telling us we should give up our hard won cash to support those billionaires who'd gone one gamble to far. Why? 'stability' says President Bush whilst Obama and McCain look on silently praying Mammon that such stability can be bought before their term starts ..."
That's got to be pretty close?
Parent
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
They use rorem ipsum instead.
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Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes you think the dialogue and details were faked rather than scripted? I mean, in a country with no free speech, you can tell your astronauts precisely what they are going to say and do. It makes writing the press announcements ahead of time quite reasonable. If someone deviates, you kill them. It discourages the rest. Really, it's all quite efficient.
Parent
Re:What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:5, Funny)
That's far too reasonable. Surely China is simply preparing for it's fake moon landing program, to show it's just as advanced as the US in fake space programs. Eveyrone knows the moon landings were really filmed in a soundstage on Mars!
Parent
Re:What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:5, Interesting)
even though i think China crossed the line here, i have to point out that comparing similar incidences/practices is not delusional at all. Chinese media writing the news before it happens can be compared with US media writing the news before it happens.
besides, the whole purpose of the comparison is to show people like yourself and the GP that China and the U.S. aren't as different as you think. the U.S. isn't as morally righteous and incorruptible as most nationalistic Americans claim. no society is perfect, just as no society is completely bad.
believe it or not, Chinese people are human beings too, just as we are. because of that, we share many of the same flaws and make many of the same mistakes. you two act like we're talking about a different species or something. what, you don't think America could ever have anything in common with China?
the Cold War is over buddy. grow up.
Parent
Re:What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:5, Insightful)
i happen to be ethnically Chinese (1.5th generation immigrant from Taiwan), and i can tell you that you're still missing the point--and making a complete ass of yourself.
the U.S. has nothing in common with China?
let's see, China has a market economy, and so does the U.S. ...
China has an army, navy, air force, police force and fire fighters, as does the U.S.
China has McDonalds--hrmm... i think the U.S. has that too.
China has hosted the Olympics, and what a coincidence, so has the U.S.
China exports tons of weapons, just as the U.S. does.
China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and so has--oh wait, nope, you're right about that one.
but neither China nor the U.S. recognize Taiwan as an independent country.*
China imports a shit ton of oil each year, so does the U.S.
Chinese government leaders are corrupt, so are U.S. leaders.
China has nationalists and dissidents, so does the U.S.
China has a privileged elite and a disenfranchised poor, so does the U.S.
China has membership in the IMF, just as the U.S. does.
China has a stock market, just as the U.S. does.
and you're accusing other people of being deluded?
*-being Taiwanese and my Dad being very pro-Taiwanese independence, i was raised to despise China. but even i wouldn't make such blatant hyperboles and blanket generalizations about China.
as i said, grow up. and learn to stop viewing the world in black & whites.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Where we the United States fall short in scale, it is only through lack of means, not lack of will. For a tip-of-the-iceberg set of examples: Abu Ghraib, the Phillipine-American war, our machinations in Latin America, our overthrow of the government of Iran (and we wonder why they hate us?), internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War...I could go on and on, but the point, I believe has been made. To what degree that the world has been affected by the actions of the United States vs. the ac
Re:What's next, a fake moon walk? (Score:4, Funny)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2989459.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Parent
I can't wait. (Score:5, Funny)
It looks like we'll be seeing $2 time machines imported from China any day now....
Re:I can't wait. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Also leaked (Score:5, Funny)
Shenzhou 11: Base this is Shenzhou 11. Shenzhou has landed. Jesus H. Christ Base, We're on the fucking moon. Over.
Base: Roger, Shenzhou, we copy you. We cannot believe you are on the fucking moon. Repeat: Cannot fucking believe it. Over.
Re:Also leaked (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like the narration of one of those horrible 80s space pornos.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Sounds like the narration of one of those horrible 80s space pornos.
Space Pornos?
This is relevant to my interests.
The proper Homer Simpson quote (Score:4, Funny)
No, no, you should have said "Your ideas are intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter" [google.com]
Parent
Re:Also leaked (Score:5, Funny)
"Did these people go to a regular journalism school, or some kind of Bizarro-world journalism school where they teach a combination of news writing and creative writing?"
Close, they got internships at Fox Networks.
Parent
Re:Also leaked (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Also leaked (Score:5, Funny)
Take your melamine pills and put your helmet on
Parent
Timezone thing? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but because of timezones, it's already tomorrow over there, right?
But they said it would be open and honest (Score:4, Insightful)
In other news, steve jobs is dead (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I'd be surprised if Xinhua hadn't written both success and failure [wikisource.org] stories weeks ago.
Seriously, people — it's a common gaffe, not an evil Communist plot.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead (Score:4, Informative)
Such conversations are often scripted. Armstrong's "one small step", for instance, was scripted before they ever left Earth.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it's common to write a story ahead of time (though probably not with dialogue, as others have noted). The gaffe which occured is actually publishing it ahead of time; this is not such a common thing.
I do agree however that it's not likely to be an evil Communist plot, or a plot of any sort, other than a simple gaffe.
Not really news, happens all the time, everywhere. (Score:4, Informative)
It isn't that uncommon for Press Releases announcing the success of an event to be drafted before the event takes place.
Sure, fabricating the actual dialogue ahead of time is shadier than most.. but really what they're doing isn't THAT different from what we do in America every day. It's only garnering attention because it was leaked, but I can't imagine that anyone who says they're shocked by this isn't feigning that shock.
You could just as easily be just as shocked at a Presidential candidate accidentally releasing both a victory speech and a concession speech before knowing the outcome of an election. It's not really news, it's just humorous that it was posted (way) too prematurely.
How many people are honestly surprised at this?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, newspapers print extracts from speeches politicians haven't yet given all the time - because they're scripted days in advance and, these days, intentionally provided to the press.
If you look at the 'dialog' in the story it's really nothing of the sort. It's canned phrases. Just like, as someone already noted, "One small step..." So there's obviously some phrases that it is known will be used during a successful launch, so the journalist can take a short cut in writing a story about it...
All major news outlets have pre-written obituaries for just about every major celebrity who's vaguely within range of snuffing it. Every few months there's a 'controversy' when one of 'em gets mistakenly published. I don't really see any difference to that...
Parent
DEWEY WINS! (Score:3, Insightful)
"You could just as easily be just as shocked at a Presidential candidate accidentally releasing both a victory speech and a concession speech before knowing the outcome of an election. It's not really news, it's just humorous that it was posted (way) too prematurely."
Only if it included the exact vote totals.
Yes, the dialogue inclusion is the particularly bad part about this. And it coming from a place that is known to censor things it does not like, lie about what it does, and generally be evil. IN isolati
Video (Score:3, Funny)
I'm not sure I believe the video either.
It's not funny (Score:3, Insightful)
If they're lying about their success (and yes, even if the mission turns out to be a success, they're still lying by announcing it early) then what else are they lying about?
For all we know dozens of taikonauts have died or been wounded in the making of China's space program.
They wouldn't tell us if it was the case.
Hah - Oblig All your Base (Score:4, Funny)
Pilot: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Ground Control: We get signal.
Pilot: What !
Ground Control: Main screen turn on.
Pilot: It's you !!
Technician: How are you gentlemen !!
Technician: All your base are belong to us.
Pathetic summary (Score:3, Informative)
"After faking their fireworks?"
Please.
All the fireworks were real. The thing you're referring to is a sequence of fireworks that wasn't filmed for television and was replaced by CGI.
The reason that the sequence - a series of giant "footsteps" across parts of Beijing - was not filmed was that it was deemed too dangerous to follow the fireworks with a helicopter and camera.
The fireworks, of course, actually happened, and the stadium coverage of the fireworks were all real. Get your facts straight.
Corrupt yes (Score:4, Informative)
Just because the channel you're watching doesn't tell you the details doesn't mean it's faked.
The Olympics ceremony was all a show. In movies they often have someone else singing instead of the star, in fact they also have body doubles. Given the amount of cheating in the Olympics, I'd cynically say that it's very in line with the real spirit of the games. Put on a good show and hope you don't get caught.
Lastly, while the Chinese are most certainly corrupt, there has been some accountability - the food safety head actually resigned. I believe the one before him was executed - he was found guilty of taking bribes etc.
They most certainly didn't get a USD20 million "golden parachute" package as a reward.
Parent
Just... (Score:3, Insightful)
China: It wasn't lies, it was just... bullshit
Won't happen to Google News (Score:4, Funny)
Re:And tomorrow they'll announce (Score:5, Funny)
You didn't get the memo?
That announcement was yesterday.
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Re:And tomorrow they'll announce (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Funny stuff. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)