‘Pathway’ links media to ministers
Carpet leading to meeting hall is ‘an important channel for releasing news’
More top officials will appear on the ministers’ “pathway” to respond to social concerns during the two sessions of China’s top legislature and political advisory body this year, the meetings’ media center said in a statement released on Thursday.
When the fifth plenary session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference opened on Friday, six ministerial-level officials answered questions covering various topics, including education and civil aviation, on the pathway from the Great Hall of the People’s north gate to the meeting hall.
The news conference lasted almost an hour and was broadcast live on China Central Television for the first time.
“The pathway has got a warmer response from all departments of the State Council this year, and the number of ministers who are ready to come and answer questions is expected to increase,” the statement said.
Though only 100 meters long, the red-carpeted pathway is“the important channel for releasing news and analyzing bills, work reports and policies,” the statement said.
In addition to awaiting the arrival of ministers, as in past years, journalists can now also submit questions to the pathway’s WeChat account after scanning a quick response code, it said, and added that text messages are also allowed.
The pathway has thus been made more open to the media in an effort to ensure every question can be answered, it said.
Li Tiezhu, a Beijing Youth Daily reporter who took part in the Friday’s news conference on the pathway, said: “I connected with the WeChat account and prepared to send some questions to give it a try in the next few days.”
Li said he was impressed on Friday by the answers of Feng Zhenglin, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, “because he gave direct responses to hot issues such as flight delays and construction of a new airport.”
But he said that the opportunity to raise questions is still limited, and a line drawn on the floor keeps reporters from approaching ministers.
The line was added in 2008 to keep the pathway from becoming too crowded, the media center said, but microphones and loudspeakers have since been installed.
The pathway was used nine times during the two sessions of 2016, the center said, and ministers stepped to the microphones 38 times and responded to journalists more than 70 times.