When it comes to freedom of the press, the mainland has a poor record overall by Western standards, but Shenzhen authorities announced yesterday a new initiative to enhance government transparency, saying that officials who violated it could face Communist Party disciplinary action or lose their jobs.
The latest regulation will require officials to give notice of any potential public emergency within two hours of the government launching its crisis management mechanism.
'From December 1, any department heads of the Shenzhen government must not refuse or obstruct reporters' interviews over major policy changes, government work, disasters and emergencies, or they will need to account for dereliction of duty,' Xinhua said, quoting the new regulation.
Authorities said they would evaluate propaganda officials' work and promise to investigate complaints filed by the media and members of the public.
The last regulation implemented by Shenzhen to boost government transparency was in 2003, but few mainland or overseas reporters said they had seen substantial improvement and did not believe the new initiative would give them access to government news any more easily than before.
Shenzhen authorities have repeatedly boasted that Shenzhen is one of the few mainland cities to have set up departmental and bureau spokesmen to respond to media queries. They did that in 2003.
About 100 city government spokesmen have been told 'not to evade or keep silent on media queries over important issues of public concern', the Nanfang Daily said.