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China’s propaganda mandarins are experimenting with a new policy to manage their message in the age of the internet: reporting the news as it happens.This marks an important shift for the ruling Communist Party, accustomed to deciding what will be reported and when. However, far from being a move towards freedom of the press the aim is control of the information available to China’s 1.3 billion people.The order came straight from the desk of China’s propaganda chief, Li Changchun, one of the nine members of the all-powerful Politburo standing committee who, faced with a bewildering array of media now available to the public, is finding it increasingly difficult to keep control of information.“Let us use the method of providing news as the way to control news,” a well-placed source quoted Mr Li as saying in his recently issued directive.Mr Li’s new approach is aimed at ensuring ultimate control of at least the most sensitive information remains in party hands. The source told The Times: “The principle is to report an incident as soon as possible without the need to inform the leaders in advance.”This has streamlined official reporting of events already. In the past important news would be allowed into the public eye only after careful vetting by senior officials. The source said: “In the past, when something happened, the usual practice was that a senior person would hold off and say he would report to the leadership. And once something was reported to the leadership then they would issue an order for a media blackout.” When a provincial television station last year reported the discovery of slave labour in brick kilns, the main government television station was allowed to air the story but was silenced after a few days.Restrictions remain in place, with the goal of ensuring that sufficient information is released to satisfy a hungry public while holding back details that could prove incendiary in a country whose leaders are deeply fearful of public unrest.The source said that the propaganda tsar had indicated that this new approach to news would reduce wild gossip, particularly on the internet where rumours and speculation are rife. The result has been wildly inaccurate reports gaining credence in the absence of an official version and given the low credibility of state-run media.Mr Li’s directive is intended to keep the news in party hands by ensuring the news agenda is set by propaganda organisations rather than by investigative reporters.One trigger for this approach was a scandal involving the sale of tainted baby formula that was hidden to prevent bad news from tarnishing China’s image during the Beijing Olympics. When the cover-up was discovered, and reported, there was widespread anger against the Government.At least four babies — and possibly many more — died from kidney failure after being fed milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. The news emerged only in September after a Chinese journalist posted a report online. Other newspapers that had been aware of the problem then followed suit, forcing the Government to come out into the open. Since then, several items of "bad" news have been reported with unusual speed. A riot late yesterday by villagers angered by the confiscation of their homes and land in a remote northwestern town was reported by state media within hours. And the public has been given blow-by-blow accounts of taxi strikes in several cities, even though industrial action has long been a taboo subject lest it trigger wider unrest.However, the party retains a tight grip. This was highlighted in the past few days by a drive to remove the editorial board of China’s most daring magazine.An article in the September issue of Annals of the Yellow Emperor praised the Communist Party leader dismissed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square student demonstrations. This glowing report angered his successor and now Mr Li has fofollowed up the leader’s request to punish the elderly, but feisty and well-connected, editors and muzzle the publication.By Jane Macartney and Sophie Yu, in Beijing
As in the days of Noah...
