What we have here is a real-life, genuine example ... of how things can go terribly wrong in a country where the state controls the media.I suppose the Chinese government must be feeling very pleased with its "nation-building" press.
There is an important lesson for Singaporeans here, I suspect. If only we were not too blind to see it.
China covered up milk scare to protect Olympics: critics
BEIJING (AFP) - - China knew about the contamination of milk products months ago but covered the scandal up to prevent it tarnishing the Beijing Olympics, according to journalists, rights groups and media critics.
The crisis broke in mid-September, a month after the Olympics, but several Chinese reporters had long known about babies being hospitalised after drinking tainted milk, yet were muzzled by the authorities, the critics say.
An editor at a respected southern China newspaper said that as early as July one of his reporters was investigating how milk powder might have been to blame for children developing kidney stones and falling seriously sick.
"As a news editor, I was deeply concerned because I sensed that this was going to be a huge public health disaster," Southern Weekend news editor Fu Jianfeng said on his blog.
"But I could not send any reporters out to investigate. Therefore, I harboured a deep sense of guilt and defeat at the time."
Fu's blog posting was later removed, although it could be read on some overseas Chinese websites. Fu himself could not be reached for comment.
An estimated 53,000 Chinese children have been sickened after the industrial chemical melamine was added to milk products, and four infants have died.