Freedom of press gives the powerless a public voice
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| [By Liu Rui/Global Times] |
Four years ago in a mid-sized Shandong town, a new mayor came to power. Soon after, it was announced there would be a new scenic park built along the river to beautify the city.
Unfortunately, there were thousands of people already living there.
"No problem," said the mayor. The people were booted out and given either a drab apartment several kilometers away or payment worth a fraction of the going market rate for their current home.
When everyone was out, it was announced there would be no park after all. There would instead be new high-end apartments built and sold in what had become prime real estate over recent years.
Naturally, the townspeople felt they'd been swindled. With the local media under the mayor's thumb, they began to talk of contacting the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV where they'd seen corruption exposes before.
"No problem," the mayor said again. And with the flick of a switch, the city's access to Phoenix TV was cut.
That's it. There's no happy ending to this story.
It was never known whether corruption was involved in the mysterious deal that robbed thousands of their life's biggest investment.
With the media's spotlight cloaked, it's difficult to know even if the events surrounding the mayor were true or just rumors.
This story is common, yet often untold in China. The media is sometimes prevented from exposing injustice toward common people. The powerless Davids of society are left without their slingshot to defend against mighty Goliaths who abuse their power.
China has a great constitution and laws that are, in many ways, more progressive than much of the world's. But without the independent watchdog of a free media, it's too easy for those in power to circumvent the laws without consequence.
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