Worries that foreign-trash expert public diplomat Yang Rui might become another Zhao Pu have proven unfounded so far. However, if the China Media Project (CMP) and quite a number of Chinese news people’s discussions reflect the realities in Xi’an (Shaanxi Province) correctly, a reporter there has been suspended from his job with Xi’an Evening News after writing a report about local government officials smoking costly luxury cigarettes.
CMP quotes, among others, a People’s Daily editor who reminds his Sina Weibo readers that the 17th National Congress had stated the right to know, to express, to participate and to monitor. That, and an article published by China Youth Daily:
Building up the nation’s image is not a matter of spending vast amounts of money to broadcast propaganda advertisements in foreign countries. Rather, it is about real and true patterns of citizenship, and about civil rights.
(高层一再强调“要创造条件让人民监督政府”、“创造条件让人民讲真话”、“不要轻易把不同意见说成杂音噪音”。能树立一个国家形象的，不是花天文数字般的钱去国外做形象广告，而是实实在在的公民形象、公民权利。)
Update re Zhao Pu (赵普): Two Guangzhou Daily (广州日报) reporters separately contacted CCTV and Phoenix Satellite TV late last month but got no confirmation from CCTV concerning rumors that Zhao had left the state broadcaster*). Phoenix on the other hand told Guangzhou Daily that these were simply rumors (纯属谣传).
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Note
*) via china.com.cn, June 28, 2012
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Related
» Three Layers of a Country’s Image, June 28, 2012
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