"This is an important step toward rigid formalization of the spokesperson system," said SCIO Minister Cai.

"When SARS wreaked havoc in China a decade ago, we were criticized by the public due to the slow release of information, but when the lethal H7N9 bird flu virus broke out earlier this year, health authorities won the trust of the public through the timely release of information," Mao said.

Emergencies and disasters were the catalysts that helped China's spokespersons understand how to communicate with the media and the public, according to Mao. "The guiding principle for the release of government information can be boiled down to just one word: transparency," he commented.

Lagging behind

Wang Xuming, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education from 2003 to 2008, was well known in media circles for his outspoken, individual approach to his work.

"More governmental bodies have spokespersons now, but there are also many 'unspoken spokespersons' those who make a virtue of saying nothing," Wang said. "Most spokespersons are like robots, reading a prepared statement with no distinctive personal style at all."

Almost three months after the end of the daily SARS briefings, both Mao and Wang attended the training courses for government spokespersons. Their lecturers included communications experts and senior reporters from China and overseas.

However, 19 of the trainees have never spoken to the media since, according to The Beijing News.

In the wake of work safety accidents or natural disasters, some government officials have been accused of being unwilling to face reporters, either because they are afraid of making a mistake or because they are unable to deal with journalists, according to Guo Weimin, Director of the SCIO's Press Bureau.

Liu Xiaoying, a professor of media research at the Beijing-based Communication University of China, said that most officials deem it risky to be outspoken, and as a result, few spokespersons prefer to face the media when they can avoid it.

"Most government officials still believe that 'careless talk costs lives,' so to speak. Keeping silent is negative, but at least it's safer than talking and getting the facts wrong," said Liu, who was once invited to help train official spokespersons by the SCIO.

Other major hurdles for spokespersons to overcome are inexperience and insufficient knowledge of a subject. Unlike their Western counterparts, most of whom have a background in journalism, the majority of Chinese spokespersons started their careers as bureaucrats. As such, it's harder for them to think from a media perspective and they usually only put forward defenses of government actions and policies, said Shi Anbin, Vice Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing-based Tsinghua University.

Shi was one of the lecturers at the 2003 training courses for government spokespersons. According to him, during the past decade the scope of those attending his media training program has widened from spokespersons working for central government departments, to those in local departments, and, more recently, a number of leading officials. In the last 10 years he has trained more than 10,000 people.

Shi noted that while an ability to deal with the media is a basic qualification for politicians in the West, many Chinese officials still have limited knowledge and experience.

"Some attendees have been mayors for 20 years, but have never talked on TV—that would be unimaginable in the United States," Shi said.

The professional immaturity of Chinese spokespersons was highlighted and magnified in the aftermath of the Wenzhou rail accident in east China's Zhejiang Province in July 2011, when two high-speed trains collided, claiming 40 lives and injuring nearly 200 people.

Wang Yongping, then spokesman for the Ministry of Railways, revealed to reporters that the front portion of one of the trains had been buried shortly after the incident. He then went on to explain that this was in an effort to ease conditions for rescue workers, defending against accusations that there were other motives by telling reporters, "Whether you believe it or not, I believe it."

Wang was promptly dismissed from his post after his statement triggered public backlash due to being seen as insensitive and deliberately opaque. Some insiders expressed sympathy for Wang, claiming that he didn't have enough information when he was ordered to face the media.

"Wang's case should provide an opportunity to push for greater reform of the current spokesperson system, which is flawed and has many systemic problems," said Wu Heping, a former spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security.

Since few government bodies have departments that are able to analyze public opinion, many ministries and commissions are unable to respond effectively to public criticism and questions, Wu added.

"People only see the performance of the individual spokesperson, but not the system behind us," Mao said. "This has to do with everyone in the organization; if the spokesperson doesn't have all the information, he or she has to collect it from various departments. But what happens if the spokesperson pushes for answers, but other people don't respond?"

Cheng Manli, a professor of journalism at Peking University, called for a new law to prompt the release of government information. Under the existing mechanism, there are no measures that force government departments to issue news releases, and the timing of a release is usually decided by officials rather than in accordance with the law, she said.

Email us at: yinpumin@bjreview.com