Chinese officials told to stop avoiding media questions about emergencies

Chinese government officials will no longer be allowed to avoid commenting on emergencies under new legislative amendments to give journalists better “legal protection”.

A commentary published on Friday in Legal Weekly, a newspaper under the supervision of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission – a Communist Party body with a wide range of supervisory powers over the legal system and security apparatus – said changes to the Emergency Response Law meant officials should not be evasive in response to media queries.

The law was adopted by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in 2007, and was revised for the first time in June. The changes came into effect this month.

“The implementation of the [amended] Emergency Response Law means that government departments can no longer use ‘no comment’ to prevaricate when responding to media questions on emergencies,” the Legal Weekly commentary said.

“It undoubtedly provides legal protection for news interviews and reports on emergencies.”

The commentary highlighted Article 8 of the law, which stipulates that government departments should “support the news media in their coverage and public oversight” of official bodies, and that news coverage of emergencies should be “timely, accurate, objective and fair”.

It also highlighted the duty of government to be prompt in releasing public alerts and other information about emergency responses.