Openness reflects Party's confidence

Abdulwaheed Odusile, head of Nigeria's journalists association, said two television teams and two newspaper teams from the African country are in Beijing to cover the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

"China and Nigeria are getting increasingly close, and China has helped a lot with construction work in our country, so of course we should come to cover such an important event," he said.

Odusile said the Western media report many stories about China, but journalists in his country want to write their own stories by experiencing the congress themselves.

Some 1,818 overseas journalists, including correspondents from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan, registered to cover this year's congress, up by 6.7 percent from the number five years ago, according to official data.

To offer them better service and make the congress more open, many new measures were adopted this year, such as the launch of a delegates' passage in the Great Hall of the People, where the opening and closing session of the congress are convened.

"The Party congress has become more open and transparent, which reflects the growing confidence of the ruling party of a large country like China," said Dong Guanpeng, director of the Communication University of China's Media and Public Relations Institute.

The delegates' passage draws on experience from the annual parliamentary sessions in the past years, in which ministers meet reporters to answer questions.

"The aim is to provide more opportunities for delegates to meet with the media," said Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the congress press center.

On Wednesday and Thursday, about 40 delegates answered questions from reporters in the passage, and more are expected to meet the media there at the closing ceremony of the congress. Their interactions with reporters are broadcast live on State television and various internet portals.

"The passage is a good format to have preliminary interviews with the delegates before going into longer discussions," said Sarah Wendt, a journalist from the United States who covered Thursday's delegates' passage.

On Thursday, those interviewed included a CPC history researcher, an aircraft carrier pilot, a computer engineer, a teacher, a cleaner, a farmer and an anti-corruption official. Topics touched on Party governance, environmental protection, scientific innovation and the personal stories of grassroots delegates.

In addition to the passage, there are also news conferences and open discussions among delegations in the presence of reporters.

During the ongoing congress, six news conferences and eight group interviews have been arranged by the press center. Topics are of great variety, including politics, the economy, social affairs and the military.

More chances to raise questions have been offered to overseas reporters. At a media briefing on China promoting ethical and cultural progress on Friday, 11 journalists were given opportunities to ask questions, including five from foreign media organizations.

On Wednesday and Thursday, more than 30 delegations opened their door to reporters and offered question and answer sessions that lasted from a half-hour to more than an hour.

To help foreign journalists contact delegates, an online platform for applying for interviews was put into operation for the first time this year, said Zhao Jiangtao, an official responsible for arranging interviews.

"We have a team in charge of collecting interview applications every day to ensure they are processed more efficiently," he said. "Foreign journalists can also trace whether their applications are read in a timely manner via the platform."

On Friday, the team helped arrange 15 group interviews in line with applications from foreign journalists, in which four of those interviewed were ministerial-level officials.

The congress is also posting information for the first time on interview arrangements and related activities, in Chinese and English, using WeChat, the popular social media platform.

Xinhua contributed to this story.