China bid to gag media over train crash sparks row
BEIJING: Government directives demanding journalists not to question official accounts of a deadly high-speed train crash in eastern China are fueling public anger and suspicion about conflicting details of the accident, such as the death toll.
Saturday night's crash, which killed at least 38 people, is raising new questions about the safety of the fast-growing and high-profile high-speed rail network.
"The major theme for the Wenzhou bullet train case from now on will be known as 'in the face of great tragedy, there's great love'," the central propaganda department's directives to the media over the crash's coverage, said. According to a copy of the directives posted on a website called the "ministry of truth", that regularly posts copies of government orders, the guidelines read, "Do not question, do not elaborate." Reporters with state media, too, confirmed the department's media guidance.
The department also told the media not to "investigate the cause of the accident", and reminded journalists that "the word from the authorities is all-prevailing".
Accounts of the media controls soon found their way onto the Internet, sparking debate and demands from ordinary Chinese for answers to questions not found in the official accounts. "We have the right to know the truth!" wrote one microblogger called kangfu xiaodingdang. "That's our basic right!"
Compounding the problem, the state-run Xinhua news agency said late on Sunday that eight additional bodies had been found, bringing the death toll to 43. But a railways ministry spokesman then said the total figure was actually 35.
Seeking to assuage public anger, the government sacked three middle-level railway officials on Sunday. The directives appear to show a government hoping to contain the outrage. "Any attempt to link the crash to the reliability of China's much feted high-speed rail system was off-limits," said the directives.
Saturday night's crash, which killed at least 38 people, is raising new questions about the safety of the fast-growing and high-profile high-speed rail network.
"The major theme for the Wenzhou bullet train case from now on will be known as 'in the face of great tragedy, there's great love'," the central propaganda department's directives to the media over the crash's coverage, said. According to a copy of the directives posted on a website called the "ministry of truth", that regularly posts copies of government orders, the guidelines read, "Do not question, do not elaborate." Reporters with state media, too, confirmed the department's media guidance.
The department also told the media not to "investigate the cause of the accident", and reminded journalists that "the word from the authorities is all-prevailing".
Accounts of the media controls soon found their way onto the Internet, sparking debate and demands from ordinary Chinese for answers to questions not found in the official accounts. "We have the right to know the truth!" wrote one microblogger called kangfu xiaodingdang. "That's our basic right!"
Compounding the problem, the state-run Xinhua news agency said late on Sunday that eight additional bodies had been found, bringing the death toll to 43. But a railways ministry spokesman then said the total figure was actually 35.
Seeking to assuage public anger, the government sacked three middle-level railway officials on Sunday. The directives appear to show a government hoping to contain the outrage. "Any attempt to link the crash to the reliability of China's much feted high-speed rail system was off-limits," said the directives.
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