A senior central government information official has urged local
governments to be more open and transparent, saying their attempt
to block media coverage of negative incidents was "too naive".
Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the State Council Information
Office, said "blocking bad news" was becoming more difficult, given
the wide use of new information technologies such as the Internet,
mobile phones and the central government's commitment to
information transparency.
"It has been repeatedly proved 'information blockage' is like
walking into a dead end," Wang told CCTV.
Wang revealed that some local government spokespersons used to
believe that some 90 percent of "bad news" could be muffled while
only 10 percent would be unluckily exposed by the media.?
However, because governments at all levels had started to
introduce a spokesperson scheme, information blockage was becoming
increasingly outdated and impractical, he said.
Wang gave the four-year-old spokesperson scheme a score of 60
points on a full-score of 100-point evaluation system.
The recent brick kiln slave scandal highlighted the importance
of a cooperative and forthcoming government to the media.
Having uncovered the illegal practice in April, Shanxi
government had started cracking down on illegal brick kiln owners
and rescued the first batch of slaves.
But keeping the information out of media spotlight until the
scandal came under full public glare left the Shanxi government in
a very vulnerable position.
"Had the government kept the media and the public informed, we
would have seen different result on discussion of officials'
accountability," Wang said.
Mao Shoulong, a professor at Beijjing-based Renmin University,
said lots of local governments were still weighing the pros and
cons of information transparency. They thought "saying something
wrong" could be as bad as gagging the media.
"With the implementation of The Decree of Government Information
Openness, by which the quality of being forthcoming will be
accounted as the officials' accountability, things will be
better,"Mao said.
Brushing media aside in handling incidents of public interest
was destined to fail as public faith and support would be lost.
"We should enlist the media in any emergency plans," Wang
said.
In the wake of the openness decree, which was approved in
January and due to take effect next May, Wang said spokespersons
alone were not enough to satisfy the public's demand for
information.
Government and Party leaders at all levels should hone their
news sense and improve media communication skills, he said.
(China Daily July 16, 2007)