The mass media in China are widely regarded as loyal propaganda machines for the Communist Party. But sometimes even these mouthpieces do not say what their political masters want to hear.
Over the past two decades the number of newspapers in the mainland has mushroomed from about 200 before the open door policy in 1978 to more than 2,000 now.
Although the communists are known for their tight control of the media, the rapid expansion of the news trade has apparently made effective monitoring of its output increasingly difficult.
The Journalistic Front, Beijing's official journalism magazine, offered in its April edition a glimpse of how some media organisations have ventured out of bounds in the eyes of the authorities.
In a commentary signed by Guang Mei, the monthly lashed out at the lack of political discipline shown by a presenter on a phone-in show aired by an unnamed radio station in southern China.
A caller who claimed to be an aviator for the People's Liberation Army had revealed on air information about malpractices at an air force training institute.