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Mainland curbs on coverage of train crash deny public the assurance probes will be transparent
Wang Xiangwei
01 August 2011
A week after state media began back-to-back, unusually critical coverage of the government’s handling of the deadly high-speed train crash in Zhejiang and raised questions about the breakneck pace of economic growth, the mainland authorities have apparently had enough.
Propaganda officials reportedly ordered editors of both the traditional and new media on Friday to significantly scale down coverage of the appalling accident, which left at least 40 people dead and nearly 200 injured. The media were apparently told to report “positive news or relevant information from the authorities” only. The order came just a day after Premier Wen Jiabao visited the crash site and promised an “open and transparent investigation”.
Yesterday, most newspapers carried far fewer stories on the disaster than last week, and each of the leading web news portals took its crash package off the home page. Undeterred, internet users still posted critical comments.
The media ban is counter-productive and unnecessary. The mainland authorities could have used the public furore to their advantage and marshal popular support to the monumental task of changing the way the economy grows and pushing for drastic reform of the Ministry of Railways, one of the few remaining pieces of the old planned economy.
Yet it is not hard to understand the government’s change of heart on the media coverage of the accident. After a week of ferocious attacks by the public, mainly on the ministry for its handling of the disaster, officials are seriously worried that this could get out of hand and further intensive coverage could direct public anger to the central government in general and its governance and economic policies.
Indeed, many leading state media organs used the accident to question a growth model that puts development before public safety.
Even the People’s Daily said on its front page last week, “China wants development but does not need blood-stained GDP”. Some media commentaries even called for “independent” inquiries into the disaster and argued more political reforms were needed to improve transparency and accountability. Others called for a comprehensive review and slowdown of the high-speed rail programme.
The media ban has reignited concerns that Beijing will resort to its old approach to dealing with strong criticism of its handling of major disasters. Immediately after the deadly Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, the government allowed a brief period of open coverage of the disaster, in the face of a massive outpouring of grief and compassion, before tightening media controls and going after activists who tried to organise campaigns to seek redress for officials’ wrongdoing or denounced the poor quality of collapsed school buildings.
Let’s hope that will not be the case this time. Mainland authorities must realise that intense media coverage can help ensure the truth will be found and given to the public, particularly as there are so many questions over how the Ministry of Railways handled the disaster. This is despite its strong denial over the weekend that it did not try to cover up the causes of the accident or gave up rescue efforts prematurely for the sake of resuming train services.
The State Council has launched an investigation of the accident by an interdepartmental team to determine its cause and promised to release the results in mid-September. However, there is concern that this investigation will not be impartial, as the Ministry of Railways is under the direct control of the State Council and the investigation team includes several senior railway officials.
As the central government is unlikely to allow an independent inquiry, continuing media scrutiny is the best option available to ensure the investigation is open and transparent, as Wen promised.
Surely the central government can see the public outcry provides a perfect opportunity to abolish the railways ministry at last and merge it into the Ministry of Transport.
Finally, the central government could ride the wave of public sentiment to rally support for its efforts to change the mainland’s economic growth model, which is aimed at achieving fast growth rates at the expense of the environment, resources and, more importantly, public safety.