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Comment by uberman | Hacker News Reader

Before damming CBS you might want to hear their motive. According to them the 90 second segment was removed because "such a sequence would endanger CBS executives on the ground in China". If that is the true motive, I personally give them a pass. If this is about preserving safety of employees and not about profit, can anyone condemn them?

This article written by a friend of one of the performers in the 90 second animated short that was cut out has what I think is the best coverage. It includes a good amount of detail including a play by play of the cut content:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/cbs-censors-t...

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If they're concerned about the safety of employees in China over the content they produce, perhaps they should not station employees in China.

Unfortunately it's such a big market it's apparent that companies are willing to forego ethics to do business with China, despite the numerous human rights violations.

CBS is an American based company; given its blatant human rights violations, perhaps they should not station employees in their home country?

I didn't claim the United States is perfect, but it certainly isn't mass incarcerating members of a peaceful religious group and harvesting their organs, so I won't agree to your false equivalence.

> In September 2013, the incarceration rate of the United States of America was the highest in the world, at 716 per 100,000 of the national population. While the United States represents about 4.4 percent of the world's population, it houses around 22 percent of the world's prisoners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_ra...

Correct, the USA has some pretty stupid laws and a malformed justice system.

It is not mass-incarcerating people arbitrarily for their membership of a peaceful religion, and then harvesting their organs.

Again, I reject your false equivalence.

> If that is the true motive

I'm going to go on a limb and say the true motive is financial, the motive for PR is "safety".

I would like to see their evidence that the Chinese government would actually harm CBS employees over the airing of this clip in the US. The international shitstorm that would create pales in comparison to Saudi Arabia's assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. And unlike with Saudi Arabia, the current US government isn't too keen on being best buddies with China.

The NYT doesn't seem fazed by that just saying.

That's just a safe excuse which can expose on the media. The real reason is for profit.

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