This Bystander has noted before the potential political fault line that quake-collapsed schools may be. Now the FT is reporting that the government has instructed domestic media to rein in coverage of the schools that collapsed during last month’s devastating earthquake.
A notice was sent to media outlets across the country late last week, following a spate of reports about the collapses that killed thousands of students. Their parents blame sub-standard construction and government negligence, if not corruption, especially in areas where schools were the only structures to fail catastrophically.
The press has bumped up against a limit of its new-found freedom. The question is whether it will knock it over, especially if the grieving and aggrieved parents don’t go away.
China Bystander 