Strikes by taxi drivers and protests by laid-off workers have been reported regularly, as have riots in Gansu, Sichuan, Guangdong and Shandong provinces and a mass petition in Beijing. The increase in media’s reporting of protests over land, labor and investment issues reveals an attempt to manage the impact of bad news by acknowledging it.

Reporting of the death toll from natural disasters was legalized only in 2005. The policy on bad news gradually changed this year.

“It’s almost impossible to block anything nowadays when information can spread very quickly on the Internet,” a party official said. “We also noticed that it will benefit us if we report the news first.”

A blackout of bad news during the Beijing Olympics in August resulted in delayed reporting of milk tainted with melamine, which killed at least four babies and made tens of thousands sick.

Beijing has also permitted local authorities to publicize negative news themselves, with no need to be cleared by upper governments. But a reminder: “Report the facts quickly, but be cautious on the causes behind the facts.”

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 1000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email