Reader's question: In America it may take years to unpick this. However practical and just the case for reform, it must overcome political cowardice, the tabloid media and parents' understandable fears.

Could you explain “tabloid media”?

My comments:

Tabloid media refer to newspapers that are smaller in size as compared with the major newspapers, which are called broadsheets.

The term “tabloid” was originally a pharmaceutical term, given to compressed (smaller) pills made by a British medicine firm. The newspaper industry borrowed the term to describe the compactness of its smaller-sized papers.

Tabloid papers are not just small in size but focus mainly on local and what is called human-interest stories, i.e. gossips about celebrities, sensational crime stories, along with large pictures of scant-clad women.

The British Sun is a typical tabloid. The US New York Times is a broadsheet. Read both to see the difference.

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Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.