Junior journos lead the way at press events

The toughest battle for journalists who cover the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was not at any conference room, but outside the hall where more than 2,000 Party representatives listened to General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao's speech at the opening session.

The reporters, a record 2,700 strong, out-numbered the Party representatives and lined up at several tables where the printout of Hu's tone-setting report would be handed out. But copies were running short.

I grabbed a copy eventually after elbowing my way through. I found two kids, apparently primary school students, standing behind the mob, gazing eagerly toward the tables. The sign on their jackets read: Chinese Teenagers News. I wondered what they were doing there.

But it was one of these kids who stole the limelight at Sunday's press conference.

Sun Luyuan, 11, got her chance to speak at the Q&A session. She raised the food safety issue to Minister of Education Yuan Guiren, citing a series of recent incidents at schools, and saying that she didn't dare to eat snacks anymore.

Yuan, who sat among rows of officials, stood up and gave a serious reply, watched by professional reporters from home and abroad.

Journalists have been complaining about the arrogance and red tape of some government departments when trying to get an interview at usual times. And many believe Party organizations often do not bother with the media. So this was a welcome gesture.

The opening-up could also be felt at other meetings held by local officials, such as the group discussion session of Party representatives from the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Although the discussion part of the meeting could be boring for many reporters, as some officials talked at length about the "social and economic progress" the region has made, at the Q&A session, the officials did not shun even the most sensitive questions such as those about the dozens of self-immolations in Tibetan-populated regions last year.