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SCMP Reporter

A nine-page magazine feature indicates official approval for Jiang Yanyong

Retired People's Liberation Army doctor Jiang Yanyong, who exposed the government's attempts  to cover up Sars, appears to now have the seal of approval from top leaders.

The Beijing-based national news magazine Sanlian Shenghuo Zhoukan or Life Week has run a nine-page feature on Dr Jiang with the cover headline:  'The benefit of the people is above all else.'

Life Week's deputy editor Mao Wei said: 'We don't need to be first in breaking a news story, but we feel it is safer to write about Dr Jiang now.

'There are people in high levels who want to have more positive news written about Dr Jiang. Some top officials admire Dr Jiang very much.'

Though Dr Jiang was initially ignored,  state media began to slowly introduce him to the public after Xinhua and the China News Agency ran small pieces late last month  on his efforts to disclose the truth about the Sars situation to the foreign media.

It was Dr Jiang's disclosure of the severity of the Sars situation in Beijing that led to the sackings of both the health minister and the Beijing mayor on April 20. The government subsequently admitted that the real number of Sars cases was 10 times higher than official numbers.

Life Week's  feature, including photos of Dr Jiang's family and his days as a young PLA officer, is the most in-depth article ever written on the whistle-blower in the mainland press. The article's publication  implies that senior leaders recognise him for his bravery.

When contacted at home, Dr Jiang said he liked the article but refused to admit that he posed for the magazine or even spoke to its journalists. Technically, the government still forbids Dr Jiang from speaking to the media, either foreign or domestic.

The PLA's propaganda officials screen requests for interviews, and have repeatedly rejected them.

Mao said his publication did not apply for a formal interview with the PLA either but was able to gain access to Dr Jiang through his personal friends and students, many of whom studied under him while he was director of surgery at PLA Hospital No 301.

'So far we haven't received any negative response from above, no pressure at least,' said Mao. He said the response from readers had been  positive.

'Many say they thank us for putting him on the cover. Though other publications have reported on him before, the articles have been quite small.'

Before Life Week's cover, rival financial weekly Caijing was the only non-official publication to have written about Dr Jiang.

Caijing's article  on May 23 called Dr Jiang 'the doctor who could speak the truth'.

Ying Chan, director of the Hong Kong University Journalism and Media Studies Centre, said she gave more credit to Caijing for publishing an article in mid-May. 'At that time, that was really brave,' said Professor Chan. 'Caijing has done a fine job. They've done the best job so far [in pushing the envelope in Sars coverage].

'The government has sent signals that writing about Dr Jiang is fine. The market is competitive, so Life Week did this for market and sales reasons. That's why.'

But testing the limits of what can be written  for the sake of circulation can be dangerous.

In recent weeks, various publications on the mainland have got into trouble for publishing politically sensitive information.

Guangzhou's Southern Weekend's top editor was replaced last month after it published an article quoting one of Mao Zedong's secretaries in advocating democratic reforms.

The 21st Century World Report was also recently suspended for a month after it ran politically sensitive pieces.

Mao said he and other editors at  Life Week were confident that their coverage of Dr Jiang would not get them into trouble.

'We've been analysing the political trends and we can't see any negative impact,' he said.

'Our cover just told Dr Jiang's story and a lot of it isn't that sensitive. We just want people to know who he is and what kind of a person he is.'

Susan Jakes, the Time magazine correspondent who first wrote in early April about Dr Jiang's allegations of a government cover-up, said it was still too early to tell if Life Week  would get into trouble.

'It still remains to be seen whether heads will roll at the magazine,' said Jakes, who has since become a friend of Dr Jiang. 'I doubt the leadership wants to praise Dr Jiang's contributions.'

Professor Chan  said she believed that the leadership had already loosened  media controls. 'President Hu Jintao has made it clear that he wants less coverage of official meetings and more coverage of issues that matter to people,' she said.

The new and more liberal media controls will allow publications like Life Week, which is one of four major weeklies in China, to thrive.

Mao admitted that the cover issue of Dr Jiang was selling well. The magazine, which usually has a print run of 100,000 copies, printed 50,000 additional copies in the past week.

'There is no denying that this cover will help in our advertising and circulation,' he said.



Recognition for Sars whistle-blower