Exposure via internet now China's top weapon in war on graft
Think tank finds online reports spur far more corruption investigations than traditional media
The internet has become the primary tool for exposing corruption on the mainland, "removing a corrupt official with the click of a mouse", according to a leading think tank's analysis.
In its Blue Book of New Media, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said that 156 corruption cases between 2010 and last year were first brought to light online - compared with 78 cases to resulting from reports in traditional media.
Forty-four cases involving disciplinary violations were first exposed in some form online, while 29 cases followed print and broadcast stories. Sixteen cases citing abuses of power were exposed online; 10 were revealed in traditional media.
Among the latest officials to fall from grace thanks to online revelations was Liu Tienan , a former deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Liu was sacked in mid-May, more than five months after an editor of the influential Caijing magazine used his microblog account to expose allegations against him.
The report said revelations online, and the rise in interest in public affairs the internet had engendered, were the main reasons more people were participating in anti-corruption efforts.