Chinese broadcaster apologises for male nudity in news report about Sichuan massage parlour workers
- Evening news item showed naked man with woman at Chengdu massage parlour
- ‘Carelessness, negligence and lack of responsibility’ blamed for airing of scene
A provincial Chinese television station apologised to viewers on Monday after full frontal male nudity was broadcast as part of an early evening news item about sex workers at a massage parlour in the Sichuan capital of Chengdu.
Sichuan Radio and Television Station published the apology on its Weibo microblog account, blaming editorial staff who failed to edit the “inappropriate scene” from the bulletin shown on Saturday.
The broadcaster said the 11-minute report was intended to prompt debate on the issue and “carelessness, negligence and lack of responsibility” by staff meant viewers of the programme – which ran between 6pm and 7.50pm – saw a nude male with a masseuse.
In the report, an undercover member of the investigation team takes a hidden camera into the massage parlour before being offered a “groping service” for 160 yuan (US$23) or full sex for 260 yuan. The man was seen paying 60 yuan for a regular massage.
While it is not uncommon for Chinese media to go undercover to investigate issues such as prostitution and unlicensed food processing, debate raged across social media about whether it was ethical for the broadcaster to have aired the video at all.
