China Focus: Chinese officials receive media training

Ten prefectural-level officials in Shanghai were recently forced to endure a bombardment of questions on topics ranging from religion and ethnic minorities to the country's one-child policy.

The officials were not attending an actual press conference, however, but were instead participating in a simulated conference as part of a media communication class held at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP), a government official training center.

Samah El-Shahat, a former lead anchor on Al Jazeera English's People & Power program and an instructor at the center, asked official Liu Wenbin whether people from the Hui ethnic group in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region would be forced to eat during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a time for fasting and spiritual reflection.

The question was tailor-made for Liu, as he is an official from the regional Communist Party of China (CPC) Commission for Discipline Inspection in Ningxia, where about one-third of the population are members of the Hui ethnic group.

"What the western reporters have in mind is quite different. The instructor told me she asked the question because she wanted to learn something about Ningxia and expected me to elaborate on the situation there," Liu said.

"Nowadays, we have constant interaction with the media," he said. "If we don't handle the media well, our message might be misunderstood and misunderstandings could be passed on to the public via media coverage."

CELAP became the first training center to feature media simulations when it was founded in 2005. It has since been recognized as an effective training ground for officials.

"Our officials' media communication capabilities are not very good, generally speaking, partly due to Chinese beliefs and culture," said Zheng Jinzhou, chief of the academy's department for teaching affairs.

Most officials engage in monologues instead of interacting with media during the simulations, while others talk with empty words instead of using specific examples, both of which demonstrate ineffective communication, Zheng said.

"We are not aiming to train each one of them to become a spokesperson. We want the officials to know about the media and learn how to use it to carry out their work more effectively," Zheng said.

To enhance the officials' governance capabilities, crisis management has also become a feature of many CELAP training sessions. Officials participate in role-playing scenarios that teach them how to handle crises ranging from protests and labor disputes to natural disasters.

"The crisis management sessions not only aim to improve response times, but also enhance officials' capability to prevent crises from happening in the first place," said Li Min, an associate professor at the academy who teaches the crisis management courses.

"There is no government that does not make mistakes. The key is in how the government learns from its mistakes to prevent them from happening again," Li said.

"We have a seven-step procedure for handling crises and emergent situations to help officials to deal with crises at an early stage and prevent the public from taking to the streets," Li said.

One of the things that differentiates CELAP from other training centers for officials is its goal of building itself into a center that keeps officials up to date and prepared to face emerging types of emergencies and crises.

CELAP has a group of special personnel whose sole responsibility is to rush to the site of major crises and emergencies as soon as they happen and collect first-hand information for use in the center's training exercises, allowing officials to examine the latest incidents and learn from them.

The academy also sifts out courses that are outdated or no longer popular among students, Zheng said.

The academy also invites foreign speakers to give officials international viewpoints on their work. More than 400 political figures, scholars and company executives from 30 countries and regions have spoken at the center.

Over the past seven years, nearly 70,000 CPC and government officials, corporate executives and professionals have taken training courses at CELAP, according to statistics from the center.

"New changes and developments around the world, as well as in China and within the CPC, require leaders to develop new skills and capabilities in leadership and governance," said Feng Jun, CELAP's acting vice president.

"The design of the training courses is guided by real problems and challenges that officials are facing," Feng said. "Our major concern is whether the courses are effective in solving their problems when they go back to work."

The academy also offers a platform for information exchanges among officials. "The officials are here to brainstorm, instead of being brainwashed," Feng said.

The officials come from various parts of the country and are rich in experience, he said. "They exchange views and share experience. They work together to find the best solutions for their problems."

Liu said he was inspired by and learned a great deal from the training he received at the center.

"We visited several cities and communities in eastern coastal areas. Their innovative measures and good experience in solving social problems inspired me a great deal in terms of handling social management in our less-developed region," he said.