Higher-level officials under media scrutiny

BEIJING - Chinese media have moved to interrogate higher-ranking officials as they scrutinize the aftermath of a deadly accident in an era of reform endorsed by the new top leadership.

The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Tuesday voiced dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Civil Affairs after it repeatedly failed to respond to the paper's requests for an interview about a foster home fire that killed six children and one adult.

"We have tried to contact the related officials 15 times but there has been no response at all," the paper's official microblog account said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the ministry had still not responded to the newspaper's requests.

The complaint of the People's Daily came after six officials in Lankao county in Central China's Henan province were suspended from work on Tuesday following intense media scrutiny and public pressure over their roles in the deadly blaze last week.

The deadly fire at the unlicensed foster home prompted concerns over abandoned children's safety and anger over the local officials' slack supervision.

Other state media also said in opinion pieces that higher-ranking officials should be punished for the fire, questioning how the suspension of the six "petty officials" could answer for seven lives.

Experts have hailed the supervisory role of China's media, saying their targets are expanding under the CPC's new leadership.

"The supervisory role of the media, especially mainstream ones, has become bigger and more visible," said Fang Yanming, a communications professor at Nanjing University in East China's Jiangsu province.

"From county-level officials, to department-level officials, and now ministerial ones, the ranks of officials coming under scrutiny are becoming higher," he told Xinhua.

Fang observed that Chinese media now always launch a blitz against officials at the first sign of corruption or malpractice.

The list of those punished in the country's ongoing campaign against corrupt officials is growing longer, with supervision from the media increasingly highlighting the issues.

Among the officials are Lei Zhengfu, a district head in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, and Shan Zengde, deputy director of the Agricultural Department of East China's Shandong province, both of whom were sacked following media investigations into their sex-related scandals.

"That's a growing and refreshing trend after the CPC's leadership change last year," Fang said. A VOICE AND A DEAF EAR

The Commentary Section of the People's Daily echoed the criticism voiced on its microblogging account over the Lankao fire on Wednesday, saying some government departments always shun public enquiries, citing excuses such as the "absence of people in charge."

"It is hard for them to change their work styles," said the paper, which boasts a circulation of more than 3 million and is regarded as a barometer of the political climate of Chinese society.

The incident involving the ministry comes amid a massive national campaign to implement the requirements on transforming officials' work style that were put forth by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, in December 2012.

"The CPC Central Committee urged the change in officials' work style, but why is it so hard (for the ministry) to give a response?" one microblog post from the People's Daily asked.

The post had been forwarded and commented upon thousands of times as of Wednesday, with some netizens quoting senior CPC leaders' words to put pressure on the ministry.

"Problems are the voice of times," wrote an anonymous web user at Sina.com, quoting Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

"Why has the ministry turned a deaf ear?" the user asked, showing support for the People's Daily's scrutiny.

Though applauding the media scrutiny, experts say it still falls short of meeting people's expectations.

"The media definitely have a bigger role to play in 'advocating the good and punishing the bad,'" said Professor Fang Yanming.