July 18, 2007
New technologies are forcing China into the open
The internet and other technologies such as cellphones are making it increasingly difficult for China's authorities to control negative news, according to a top government official. New Scientist reports.
"It has been repeatedly proven that information blocking is like walking into a dead end," the state-run China Daily newspaper quoted Wang Guoqing, a vice minister with the State Council Information Office, as saying.
Wang says local governments need to be more transparent, describing some as being "too naïve" in thinking they can simply hide damaging information.
Wang reportedly revealed that some local government representatives used to believe that 90% of bad news could be concealed, and only 10% would be unluckily exposed by the media. He cited the recent case of a slavery scandal that emerged in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces as proving that bad news needs to be managed, rather than covered up."
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