Public disclosure of information and transparency in policymaking have improved tremendously since the new leadership came into power in last March, and the press has played a pivotal role in the process, says Yang Zhengquan, CPPCC member and a retired vice minister with the State Council Information Office (SCIO).

He adds, "People began to feel the change in late 2002, when the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened. In 2003, governments at all levels spared no effort to improve transparency of their work while inviting public supervision. Many government departments began holding press conferences regularly. The press thus has more space in its daily coverage of the government's work and decision-making processes."

Yang, a veteran journalist who once served as the director of China National Radio, president of China International Publishing Group, and vice minister of the State Council Information Office, has always paid close attention to the relations between the government and the press. He points out, "We have seen a reformed and more vivid type of news coverage of the government in recent years. During the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002 and the First Sessions of the 10th NPC and CPPCC last year, the Chinese media reported and recorded in detail the policymaking process. Speeches of the Party and state leaders were timely made public. As a result, the people's satisfaction with the government increased."

"Government officials have been franker about issues that they cannot solve immediately when they face the media. Now they are using the opportunity to meet with journalists to explain their difficulties to the citizens. It turns out that they win better understanding from them," says Yang.

The outbreak of SARS in 2003 resulted in great improvement of China's government news release mechanism, which was first implemented in 1983. Almost all central government ministries and more than a dozen provincial and municipal governments have established a news-release mechanism.

Zhao Qizheng, minister of the State Council Information Office, announced in last January that the SCIO is now working to set up a three-tier government news release system to further promote government transparency. It will feature spokespersons for the State Council, central government ministries and provincial-level governments. An increasing number of local governments have followed suit.

On February 11, 2004, amid the nationwide fight against the bird flu epidemic, the Chinese government passed a regulation that requires government organizations to release information on emergencies and accidents in a "timely and accurate way".

"In addition, the reports by domestic media have become more humane. They show great concern for people's safety and their lives and public health. SARS, AIDS and bird flu have successively made headlines in many domestic media over the past year; and reports on natural disasters as well as accidents have become more timely and complete. Conditions of under-represented groups, such as migrant workers and farmers, won much more space in media coverage over the past year as their difficulties and feelings were made better known. In 2003, the domestic media battled fiercely against rampant discrimination against migrant workers in pay, education of their children and medical care and, together with concerned government departments, pressured many presumptuous bosses to pay delayed wages to migrant workers before the Spring Festival of the Year of Monkey," notes Yang.

"The main concerns of the people, such as environmental pollution, medical care, employment, education and social security topped media coverage over the past year," he adds.

"In 2003, the media highlighted some legal issues that are close to people lives: the legislation of the new marriage registration statute, the identification card law, the administrative approval law, the legal aid regulations and the transportation law; the abolishment of the old urban vagrancy rules, and prison reforms and the introduction of community services for minor offenders."

"News coverage of international events has become much more timely and in-depth. For the first time, in its international reports China Central Television (CCTV) did live broadcasts of the US-led war against Iraq in March 2003, enabling the Chinese audience know more about the war," Yang recalls.

"The media has increased coverage of corruption cases and public supervision of official affairs. Media-audience interaction effectively influenced government's handling of the old vagrancy rules and the punishment of the notorious gang leader Liu Yong in Shenyang, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, last year," says Yang.

Yang believes that having begun, reform of the press will not stop. But he also feels the route ahead might not always be straight. "Nevertheless," he says, "the government's participation and support will guarantee the success of the reform."

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Chen Chao, March 4, 2004)