At a year-end press briefing held on Tuesday, officials from the
State Council Information Office (SCIO) vowed to increase press
accessibility and train more official spokespersons.
On the same day, the office published a list of
75 spokespersons for the 62 departments under the State Council
that have started the news release scheme. It is the first time
such a list has been made available.
SCIO Minister Zhao Qizheng said the list would be updated
annually in the future.
The past year has seen dramatic improvement in the release of
information regarding emergencies such as prevention and cure of
bird flu, mining accidents and floods, according to Zhao.
"In the past, all the data had to be complete before the
tragedies were made public. Now whatever information is available
will be released," he stated.
The SCIO sponsored 60 news briefings involving 50 ministries and
seven provinces in 2004, a significant change from the handful
given a decade ago.
Ahead of each news briefing, notice of topic, time and venue is
provided on the China Internet Information Center website
(www.h5a3.com). In most cases, TV and radio stations and
websites, including www.h5a3.com, offer live coverage of the
conferences.
"Except for the Foreign Ministry and the Taiwan Affairs Office,
ministries did not have a system for regular press briefings," he
said. "We are pushing in that direction, but they must get the ball
rolling."
After-hours accessibility, which will make government
spokespersons available after normal working hours, is another area
on the SCIO's agenda.
Despite this progress, some government departments have not been as
responsive to press needs as they should be, said SCIO Vice
Minister Wang Guoqing.
Some officials have not had much experience with the media, and
some know little of media operations or their needs. "But things
will gradually change," said Zhao.
In 2005, the SCIO will give priority when arranging news
briefings to subjects that call for urgent media attention: those
that concern the nation's economy, social planning, key policies
and public livelihood.
It will also encourage large state-owned enterprises to appoint
spokespeople based on the government model, and help set up similar
systems at hospitals, schools and financial institutions.
For increased transparency of Party organizations, it will
invite more senior officials from the Communist Party of China to
its news conferences.
It will fine-tune the mechanism for releasing crisis-related
information by organizing more timely briefings.
"We are the coordinator and organizer, not the one who makes the
call," said Zhao, "but we encourage government spokespersons to
talk more and improve their communications with media. That will
increase the transparency and accountability of our
governance."
The year in numbers:
2004
l????????The
State Council Information Office held 60 news briefings that
involved 50 ministerial-level departments and?seven
provinces;
l????????Forty-four
State Council departments held their own news briefings, for a
total of 270;
l????????Twenty-eight
provinces held a total of 460 news briefings;
l???????
Sixty-two State Council departments have developed spokesperson
systems and have trained 75 spokespersons;
l????????Twenty-three
of 31 mainland provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
have set up news release systems and 20 have official
spokespersons;
l????????A
total of 2,000 spokespersons received training in two
SCIO-based seminars and 14 others held locally.
(China.org.cn, China Daily December 29, 2004)
