Most Chinese want more transparency in govt work

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-29 18:29

"After more than two decades of high-speed economic development and as the country becomes more stable, China was confident enough to embrace monitoring and supervision at various government levels," said Guo Ke, journalism professor at Shanghai International Studies University.

"The popular use of the Internet was another reason for the government to introduce more news spokesmen after the 20th century," he said, adding that the common people could get access to information on the web and any attempt to curb the spread of information could be in vain.

"The system of spokesmen in China came naturally as China deepens its reform and boosts economic pace," he noted.

As of the end of 2007, China had more than 160 spokesmen speaking for CPC central organs, central government departments and provincial governments.

The survey, which was completed by 9,244 netizens across the country, also showed that people paid the most attention to spokesmen in the Information Office of the State Council, which accounted for 60.1 percent of the total. The spokesman in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ranked the second, hitting 58.8 percent.

But the situation of news spokesman in China is by no means hailed by all as scholars call for improvement and citizens urge transparency in news release.

Chen Lidan, professor of journalism at Renmin University, said spokesmen should be held responsible for failure to release news promptly, giving false information and refusal to disclose news using the excuse of secrecy classification.

New legislation is needed to guarantee people's rights to be informed and punish irresponsible spokesmen and their superiors, he said.

The general public, however, think efforts should be made on the transparency of the spokesman's work as the survey shows that 77.3 percent held that view, and 67.1 percent called for news release should be in time.

Nearly one third, or 29.2 percent of those people polled expect a news spokesman to have personality.

However, according to Zheng Genling, an official in the news channel of China Central Television, personality should not interfere with a spokesman's work as the priority for a qualified spokesman is to fulfil his responsibilities.

As a spokesman, the most important thing was to explain clearly what the policies and regulations are, said Li Guangzheng, a media worker in Shenzhen, adding occasional personal comment in press conferences was welcome but should never be too entertaining.

In the survey, 65.4 percent of the public expected spokesman to give a quick response and 58.2 percent wished to see a sense of responsibility on the spokesman.

The spokesman's knowledge of policies ranked the third while eloquence, which was said by 53.5 percent of those polled as important, took the fourth when commenting on the qualities that a good spokesman should have.

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