A bill proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that seeks to dissuade Hollywood studios from submitting their movies to the censorship of the People’s Republic of China seems to strike the right policy balance.
It would limit government interference in businesses decisions, but exposes an outrage that most Americans likely are unaware of.
The Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies Act (SCRIPT Act) would cut off any assistance by the Department of Defense to those film studios that submit their films to Chinese censors.
That sensibly withdraws government money from studios engaging in an act that harms Americans, but stops short of giving directives to private businesses.
Cruz said he would introduce the legislation when the Senate returns from recess.
The act is timely. As we have seen again with the coronavirus crisis, China’s communist government is obsessed with its external image, in the current instance suppressing the fact that the virus originated in its city of Wuhan and maintaining a level of secrecy that helped the virus spread globally.
With regard to Hollywood, China uses the lure of a market of 1.3 billion potential moviegoers to force studios to comply.
While China’s box office take has been badly hit in 2020 with movie theaters closed, in 2019, box office revenues rose 5.4% to a record $9.2 billion, according to Variety.
Cruz said in a statement:
From buying media outlets to broadcast propaganda into America to coercing Hollywood studios and sports leagues to self-censor by threatening to cut off access to one of the biggest markets for sports and entertainment in the world, the Chinese Communist Party spends billions and billions of dollars to mislead Americans about China and shape what our citizens see, hear, and think.
All of these activities are part of China’s whole-of-state approach to amass more influence around the world through information warfare, and we need to put a stop to it.
For too long, Hollywood has been complicit in China’s censorship and propaganda in the name of bigger profits. The SCRIPT Act will serve as a wake-up call by forcing Hollywood studios to choose between the assistance they need from the American government and the dollars they want from China.
The Texas senator is right.
Hollywood studios have for years responded by kowtowing to the Chinese government’s demands, sending over scripts for approval or even having censors on the set. Even worse is when...
