Tough job gets tougher
Experts believe that nowadays spokespersons can never know more than netizens do and are in fact a "disadvantaged group."
However, Shi Anbin, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, denied that news acquired by web users from various sources is different from the first-hand, authoritative information obtained from the government. "In terms of news quality, the spokesmen are not disadvantaged," said Shi.
Shi explained that even if some spokesmen are unable to learn about events intimately, it is the fault of the current system.
"In Europe and the U.S., government spokespersons are generally allowed to attend the most top-level decision-making conferences to gain a better understanding of related policies," noted Shi, adding that in China spokespersons are restricted by their official ranks, and are not able to get to know an event comprehensively.
Wang Junchao, associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, argued that the Internet has brought great challenges to spokesmen. For example, because of the rising popularity of Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, lies from a spokesperson can soon be exposed.
More spokespersons needed
In 2005, a club for China's spokesmen was established. Du Dengbin, Secretary-General of the club, said that besides governments, companies also needed spokesmen, since the mishandling of a crisis could lead to the failure of the overall business.
Last March, the Shuanghui Group, China's largest meat processor, was found to have produced and sold pork tainted with clenbuterol, a banned additive, only to find that they lacked a formal spokesman to deal with such a serious crisis.
The National Association of Government Communicators in the U.S. estimated that in America there are about 40,000 spokespersons in government at various levels, and almost all large and mid-sized companies have formal spokesmen. Even small companies of less than 20 employees have part-time speakers.
However, a survey by Du Dengbin showed that in China less than half of state-owned enterprises have their own spokespersons, while the proportion of the private companies is less than one fifth.
Currently in China, government spokespersons are usually selected from official leaders, such as department heads or vice heads, who are generally inexperienced in journalism and may be transferred to other positions soon.
