Professor Zhan Jiang (展江), the dean of Department of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Youth Politics College, is a long time media reform advocate in China. He wrote following essay on Southern Metropolis Daily; translated by EastSouthWestNorth:
On April 3, China Youth Daily reported that the Chongqing municipal government/party has required that Chongqing Daily News will only present reportsabout the normal activities of the city party secretary, mayor and People’s Political Consultative Council on page 2 and in not more than 1,000 words; television and radio reports will not present these reports as the top stories and any report must not be longer than 3 minutes. Instead, the vacated space shall be used to report on and serve the broad masses.
I believe that this action will be appreciated by Chongqing citizens as well as people outside. In the recent “nail house” case, the Chongqing officials did not issue a ban order on media coverage. This seemed to have elevated Chongqing’s image in this regard as leading the nation. [Full Text]
