Quick response to rumors

A micro-blogger claimed a 9-year-old child in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, was unable to attend school because he needed to help his mother with her work as a sanitation worker. However, 155-minutes of verification work by the local authorities proved the rumor was false, and the micro-blogger deleted the post. More authorities should act quickly to prevent rumors from spreading, says an article in Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Excerpts:

The number of netizens has raised both the speed and efficiency with which information spreads. But this is a double-edged sword, as they have also become the "distribution center" for rumors. If the rumors are poorly handled, they not only seriously damage citizen's rights and harm public interests, but also affect social stability and national security.

Society is flooded with rumors of all kinds. But due to a lack of crisis awareness, many officials have a tendency to try to prevent the public from learning the facts rather than providing them with open and transparent information. This leads to rumors that damage the government's credibility.

Lessons can be learnt from the Nanjing government's quick reaction to the rumor. On the one hand, the relevant department obtained accurate information from the frontline, which enabled it to work out effective and flexible measures to quickly counter the rumor. On the other hand, when dealing with crisis, the local government adhered to the principle of transparency and took the necessary steps to confirm the information.

When confronting challenges in the digital age, as long as local governments raise their crisis awareness and adopt transparency and fairness, they will not only overcome the tradition of being passive when faced with an embarrassing situation, they will even be able to turn the crisis into an opportunity to promote their image.

(China Daily 07/13/2012 page9)