Gao Qinrong, a party member and former Shanxi Youth Daily journalist, was the first to expose the fraud committed by Yuncheng District on a fake irrigation project in May, 1998. 

The Gao Qinrong Interview in Southern Metropolis Daily

In October, 1999, he was sentenced to 12 years on charges of "accepting bribes, pimping, and swindling." On 7 December, 2006, Gao Qinrong was finally set free at the end of his sentence.

That Gao Qinrong was jailed for years because he uncovered corruption on a local engineering project led me to consider the difficulty the media has today in reporting on graft and corruption.

After the Cultural Revolution, the news media faced a new test. With the war over, how was the media to express its individuality; how could it continue to show off its strengths as a mouthpiece?

At the end of March and the beginning of April, 1950, the General Press Administration of the Central People's Government convened the first national press workers' conference to address for the first time the issue of "improving newspaper work and strengthening ties with the public."

The director of the General Press Administration, Hu Qiaomu, brought up three areas in which newspapers could be improved: connection to reality, connection to the public, and criticism and self-criticism. On 1 May of that year, these were written into a document for execution.

Subsequently, the major periodicals across the country put this into practice wholeheartedly, and it provided excellent preparation for later reporting on corruption. In May, 1950, People's Daily organized 2101 reading groups across the country, and started special columns in the newspaper.

In 1951, People's Daily increased its correspondents from just over 200 to more than 10,000. Think for a moment what the scene would be like if all of those 10,000 individuals were exposing corruption at the same time.

Wouldn't those corrupt elements be like rats on the street, everyone shouting to beat them? Most critically, People's Daily edited and printed an internal publication, People's Daily Dispatches; as a training ground for correspondents, the paper treated letters from readers very seriously. Every month, that paper would disclose the "handling of readers' letters and interviews," and categorize the letters it received.

At that time, all of China's newspapers were gradually expanding the space given over to letters from readers; a typical newspaper had a special section or column for readers' letters, similar to the commentary pages in today's papers.

Many newspapers printed the more important letters on the front page or in the news section, and a number of newspapers made letters from readers the main content of their supplement editions. As this tide continued to swell, papers began to receive critical letters. In 1955, among the letters that People's Daily received every day, one-third could be classified as criticisms, recommendations, complaints, or disclosures; this demonstrates the trust the readers had in party newspapers.

The power of public opinion should not be underestimated - this played an active role in driving the later attacks on corruption. At the same time, the Central Committee strengthened criticism and self-criticism.

In particular, it directed: "In all open areas, in the general public, and especially in newspapers and magazines, launch criticisms and self-criticisms of all errors and deficiencies in out work." These important directives were important in attacking and exposing corruption.

Figures show that in 1949, People's Daily published 347 critical articles, while in 1953 it published 1027. During the three years from 1951 to 1953, an average of more than 4 critical articles were published every day.

During the "Three Anti" and "Five Anti" campaigns between the end of 1952 and the end of 1953, many newspapers launched columns like "Everyone exposes graft and waste" and "Everyone reports corruption and bribery." The powerful social will formed in this way attacked corruption to the point that corruption dared not raise its head.

Every newspaper connected the criticism it published with the promotion of activities concerning the Rectification Campaign and the move to consolidate party organization, and reported on many typical cases, creating a strong reaction in society. All levels of party newspapers made bold reports and statements about efforts to suppress public criticism. Corruption during that period was continually exposed, and the media was able to report on corruption with no reservations.

When Huang Yifeng, director of the Transportation Department of the East China Military and Political Committee as well as president of the East China Transportation Training School, suppressed criticism and retaliated against a student, People's Daily not only exposed this affair but also followed up with an editorial, "Those that suppress criticism are the party's mortal enemies," forcing the Huang Yifeng case to be treated seriously.

Objectively speaking, there were some problems with excessively vehement language in the criticism and self-criticism during the first years after the founding of the country. Later on, our newspapers followed the Soviet model too closely and became progressively dull and dry.

But from the general shape of that period of history, it was basically a successful start. Taking advantage of the oversight of public opinion to bring corruption largely under control - that point deserves study from today's newspapers.

Most recently, the Central Committee has increased the strength of its fight against corruption; the Shanghai pension case is proof of this. Some major local officials have taken falls. Taking heavy strikes at corruption has become part of the current state of affairs.

That the local reporter Gao Qinrong was framed and imprisoned after revealing the frightful spectacle of local corruption is a highly irregular situation. Mulling this over, it seems that our public opinion is not yet strong enough; there is no way to force those corrupt elements to recognized the influence of public opinion.

Why should media today have to face this problem or that problem when reporting on the problem of corruption? We should look back at history, and perhaps there we will find some answers.