TV show provides new way for public supervision

A new TV program in central China's Hubei Province is forcing government officials to respond to public complaints under the glare of studio lighting and the unblinking eye of the camera.

During a Dec. 17 broadcast, Yang Zefa, director of the food and drug administration of the provincial capital of Wuhan, apologized to the audience after a video clip depicting an illegal food production facility was played before them.

Yang then demanded that more than 50 law enforcement officers were dispatched to inspect and close the facility that very evening.

The program was created by the Wuhan municipal government in order to improve local officials' work and create a new way for the public to supervise the government.

"We collect stories regarding the public's top concerns, secretly film the stories and broadcast them live," said program staffer Liu Zhiming.

"The directors of relevant government departments are invited to come on the show to take questions and be assessed by representatives of the public, as well as our commentators. None of them know what will be played on the show before it airs," Liu said.

The program, like the microblog accounts that many officials have opened in recent months, allows the public to interact and participate in government affairs.

"These officials show another side to the public when they're on the show. They get embarrassed and sweat when they encounter unexpected questions," wrote a netizen using the screenname "Guo Wenjing."

Television and the Internet have brought government officials and the general public closer by providing new ways to communicate, said Shen Yang, a professor at Wuhan University's school of information management.

Pang Yanping, a teacher from Wuhan who has contributed stories to the program, said the show has given the public greater opportunities to voice their opinions and report problems to the government.

However, Tang Xiaotian, a professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said the program has some limitations, adding that the show's creators should take care to avoid neglecting their goal of helping people solve problems.

The government has made great efforts to promote information transparency and created conditions for the public to supervise the government work in recent years.

"Whenever we make a decision involving the immediate interests of the people, we must solicit their views on it. We must not do anything that may harm the interests of the people and must correct any action that causes damage to their interests," Hu Jintao said in a report to the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress last month.

In order to encourage more public participation in government supervision, the government should integrate both traditional and modern complaint channels in order to solicit more advice from the public, Shen said.