The verdict isn’t out on the Shanxi Kiln Affair: “media need to go deeper” - 中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

The verdict isn’t out on the Shanxi Kiln Affair: “media need to go deeper”

Date: 6 juillet 2007

Published by Southern Metropolis Daily

It was by dint of being reported by the media that the Shanxi Kiln Affair become a public event. The media was for this reason an important force in this public event. News reports and editorials, the feelings and demands of the public, and the attitude and actions of the government – it was the interaction of these three that pushed this event further and deeper. The responsibility of the media was not only to report on official actions. Nor was it merely to transmit the will of the people. More important was [the need to] take an independent stance, to go in search of the truth with a spirit of skepticism, to break through the riddles, to reveal the dark corners [others] try to cover up. Only under such a situation [in which the media plays these roles] can reports on the actions of officials be believable. Only under the force of such a media can the actions of the government be legitimized in the eyes of the public. Only when the media plays such a role can there be real dialogue and understanding between the public and the government. Only by building close interaction between the government, the media and the public can public events become the kind of public events that bring together the various forces of society …

The affair at Wang Bin Bin Kiln … is already being tried in the courts. According to Yu Hongjun this should just be the beginning, and is far from the end of the Shanxi Kiln Affair. High-level officials have repeatedly expressed their determination that the case be investigated thoroughly. Perhaps the people can wait for a completed examination paper. Perhaps they might also find in that completed examination paper an answer to their anger, a righting of wrongs. But as for that examination paper, the media have not yet finished their homework.

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