Liaison office role for ex-Guangdong propaganda official
Former Nanfang Media group head Yang Jian to be liaison office publicity chief in Hong Kong, while former senior censor takes his old job
Nanfang Media group chairman Yang Jian will arrive in Hong Kong this month to fill the vacancy left by central government liaison office deputy director Li Gang, who is expected to become director of the liaison office in Macau.
Yang was picked to oversee the central government's publicity agenda in Hong Kong because he was familiar with media operations in the city and had built up a network of contacts in the Hong Kong media after spending years as a propaganda official in Guangdong, sources said.
Yang was only made chairman of the Nanfang Media group in March, replacing Yang Xingfeng , who had reached the official retirement age of 60.
Yang, 54, became a deputy director of the Guangdong propaganda department in 2007. Before that he had been president of the Guangdong branch of Xinhua from 2000.
Meanwhile, Guangdong has appointed an experienced censor who has never worked in the media to succeed Yang.
Mo Gaoyi , deputy director of the provincial government's propaganda department, will succeed Yang as Nanfang group chairman, according to a handful of media sources who confirmed his appointment.
Two of the mainland's most outspoken and respected newspapers, the Southern Weekly and the Southern Metropolis Daily are sister publications of the group's flagship Nanfang Daily.