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Attentive TV viewers and newspaper readers throughout China might have felt a breath of fresh air in media reports over the past few days. Media coverage of meetings and the activities of leaders has been slashed, and the number of reports on topics concerning the daily lives of ordinary people is increasing noticeably.
The welcome change was initiated by a decision approved by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Friday on improving the press coverage of meetings and leadership activities.
The move, together with a series of other measures, once again improves the image of the Party's new leadership. Since they took over in November, the new generation of leaders have impressed the population with their repeated emphasis on the strong ties between the Communist Party and the people.
While a certain quantity of media coverage of meetings and the activities of leaders helps people feel the pulse of the country's political life, excessive reports of such kinds can easily bore them.
More seriously, it may also give rise to a negative tendency whereby media organizations play down or even ignore the demands of ordinary people while focusing attention on leaders' activities.
Such worries are not groundless, given that media organizations in China tend to devote a large amount of their coverage to the routine activities of leaders and various kinds of meetings. In comparison, reports on the activities of ordinary people and grassroots concerns are far from adequate.
Needless to say, the improvement of media reporting will be highly instrumental in rectifying this negative trend and helping media organizations present a more balanced picture of present-day China.
Judging from the new leadership's down-to-earth attitude towards work, we have reason to believe the reform will be more than a mere formality. Instead, it will bring about a healthier way of working in government institutions.
(China Daily April 1, 2003)
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