Now the tables have turned on Mr. Guo, a CCTV official for two
decades: He has been detained and is being investigated for
suspected bribery. And though some on the mainland saw his
program's attacks on foreign companies as a patriotic defense of
Chinese consumers, he also had powerful enemies inside China.
A Background in the Ad Department
The arrest came as China is cracking down on corruption:
President Xi Jinping has vowed to go after both powerful and
low-level corrupt bureaucrats (he called them "tigers and flies.")
CCTV is the country's biggest TV network, though many younger
people see it as old-fashioned and are increasingly getting news
online and from social networks.
Mr. Guo, a former journalist and longtime force in CCTV's ad
department, is being investigated on bribery charges, the Supreme
People's Procuratorate said in a statement online. A CCTV producer,
Tian Liwu, is also being probed. Details on the specific
allegations against them were not clear.
Local media have put a heavy focus on Mr. Guo's clashes with top
Chinese business leaders.
Online, the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the
Communist Party, reported Tuesday that Mr. Guo allegedly angered
one leading businessman by asking for a bribe, and then when he was
refused, retaliating with negative coverage. The report said Mr.
Guo also maintained a top role in working with advertisers, which
gave him unusual power.
Neither Mr. Guo or CCTV could be reached for comment. One former
representative of a top multinational had positive recollections of
Mr. Guo.
Alfonso de Dios, a Beijing-based media consultant and a former
China media director for Procter &
Gamble from 2001-2009, worked closely with Mr. Guo during his
P&G years. He said Mr. Guo, then head of the ad sales
department, never offered him or solicited a bribe and was "all
work, work, work."
"He is a very action-driven guy, very open-minded to solutions,"
and was willing to try innovations involving branded content
programs or public service announcements with brand integration,
Mr. de Dios said.
"Whenever we had ideas, he was there ready and able to make
those ideas happen."
Consumer Rights
After Mr. Guo was promoted as head of the CCTV-2 financial news
channel, he oversaw the annual March 15 "World Consumer Rights Day"
investigative report, which took on companies it accused of bias
against Chinese customers.
In 2013, it said the iPhone's warranties in China weren't up to
international standards, and Apple CEO Tim Cook offered an apology
to China's consumers and a policy change. CCTV also accused
Volkswagen of putting cars on the market in China with faulty
gearbox systems -- afterward, Volkswagen issued a major recall.
A year earlier, the program had attacked McDonald's, accusing it
of serving products past their expiration date. McDonald's also
apologized. Other targets have included Nikon and Carrefour.
Going After Chinese Companies Too
In November, Mr. Guo's channel tackled the China real estate
sector with a report accusing property developers of failing to pay
years of land appreciation taxes. The Wall Street Joural quoted
analysts who were skeptical of the report, saying the channel had
misunderstood how the system works.
When CCTV continued to attack developers, property tycoon Ren
Zhiqiang called CCTV "the dumbest pig on earth" in a post to his 16
million followers on Weibo, China's Twitter.
Entrepeneur Shi Yuzhu was angered by a negative CCTV report in
March about the company he founded, game developer Giant
Interactive Group. On Weibo, he said Mr. Guo was "shameless."
Later, he said he asked for appointments to apologize in person but
was refused.
"I wish him a quick arrival home after the bribery
investigation," he wrote on Weibo this week, with a hint of
sarcasm.
