Officials on TV show should make more than good theater
- By Ni Tao
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, January 19, 2015
Chinese officials have often been described as being shy and stiff under the media spotlight. Partly to improve their performance in the face of public scrutiny, some officials in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, have been frequently asked to appear on a TV talk show.
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Peng Qiaodi, female governor of the city's Caidian District, was greatly embarrassed when the host dramatically challenged her to eat a tangerine coated in a layer of cement. |
Launched with the intention to confront officials on their failure to carry out duties, the TV show has generated quite a few headlines, some verging on sensationalism. For instance, Peng Qiaodi, female governor of the city's Caidian District, was greatly embarrassed when the host dramatically challenged her to eat a tangerine coated in a layer of cement. The polluted tangerine, which came from a grove near a cement plant, was reportedly an attempt to remind the governor of severe pollution in her jurisdiction, where no action had been taken against the cement plant despite complaints from the grove owners.
Cornered, Peng chose to rise to the tangerine challenge. However grudgingly, she peeled the tangerine and ate it in full glare of the public, and managed to find the courage to comment on its "sweetness."
She is not the only official to be caught off guard. One of her colleagues perhaps felt even more bitter about being publicly shamed, or indeed, humiliated.
During a broadcasting session of the show on January 6, Wang Li, party secretary of the Wuchang District, was asked to recite the 24-word socialist core values, a slogan urging patriotism, dedication and honesty among Chinese citizens, especially officials. Nervousness set in. His mind suddenly went blank, as he struggled to recite the slogan in broken sentences. It took him nearly 2 minutes to pull through this ordeal.
Answering thorny questions
The idea of the TV show is to get officials to leave the cocoon of their official compounds, face the public and answer thorny questions from the host and citizens sitting in the audience. Usually, it starts with video footage taken on the sly that reveals problems to which officials have to respond. The audience voice approval or disapproval of the given answers by raising a sign with a smiling face or a tearful face.
The TV show, among the very first of its kind in China, has been immensely popular for it gives a vent for people to air their grievances, which sometimes are not properly dealt with or ignored.
Initiated in 2011 under the auspices of liberal senior cadres of Wuhan, the TV show has been widely commended as an effective way to exercise oversight via the media and public's right to know. Many erring officials are put on the defensive and made to apologize or promise swift changes.
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