Media supervision helps government to resolve many environmental issues

The Zhejiang provincial government is reportedly making special efforts to highlight the media's role as a supervisor of environmental issues. Indeed, the media have exposed many prominent environmental and ecological issues that had been affecting people's livelihoods, prompting the authorities to resolve them under media supervision. Xinhua News Agency commented on Sunday:

The lack of effective supervision has been the common cause of environmental pollution in most cases. Zhejiang's experience shows the media and government form an effective combination when it comes to exposing many hidden environmental issues, and solving some long-term problems.

In 2014, Zhejiang TV Station launched a platform, Focus Today, to broadcast environmental pollution reports. By Sept 17, Focus Today had aired more than 430 episodes, prompting the resolution of hundreds of environmental pollution cases. Since then Zhejiang has seen the launch of nearly 70 such programs and columns by traditional and new media outlets. And an atmosphere conducive to resolving environmental issues has been built thanks to the efforts of the media, the government and society.

Nationwide experience shows media supervision has helped resolve many an environmental issue. Were it not for the efforts of the media, some serious environmental issues, such as the discharging of polluted water into the Tengri Desert in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and the ecological degradation caused by mining in the National Reserve of Qilian Mountain Range in Gansu province, would not have caught national attention overnight.

That's why the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has strongly advocated making better use of media supervision in identifying and exposing pollution cases. The media can serve to bring the government and society closer in the fight against environmental pollution, which cannot be tackled by the government alone and instead needs the joint efforts of the entire society.