As the grief and shock caused by the fatal explosion and collapse of the Yichang Bridge on the Lianhuo Highway, which caused nine deaths, had scarcely begun to subside, a news report published by the website of the Dahe Daily generated more controversy.

The article gave a brief description of the accident, the number of casualties, and the difficulties in rescue efforts, but then focused extensively on efforts made by local officials.

According to that article, in order to assist the rescue effort, officials "rushed to the scene" and have "held many meetings" to discuss it. The whole article had some 1,300 Chinese characters, 1,134 of which were lavishly spent on lauding the hard work of officials. The writer used 25 commendatory terms such as "rapid, immediate, all-out, and ordered" to describe officials while names of the casualties were not mentioned.

Those who are familiar with the Chinese media scene may still remember that the article followed the once standard format of disaster reporting. Regardless of the severity of the disaster, official rescue efforts had to be highlighted. However, the public no longer buys into such nonsensical reporting today. The media are expected to update information in a timely fashion, keep a close watch on the rescue process and help find the people responsible for the tragedy. They should leave the task of government propaganda behind.

Moreover, the entire emergency-response system needs an overhaul. Flaws in this system have been exposed in the handling of many accidents. Yang Dacai, the former head of Shaanxi Province's Bureau of Work Safety, was photographed smiling at the scene of a deadly traffic accident last year. Such gaffes are not rare among officials. Yang was then found by netizens to have been wearing different expensive watches. He was later investigated and dismissed. Although the media were instrumental in catching Yang, they could write more constructive reports than reporting on something as insignificant as a smile.

China has already entered a complex transition period, increasing unexpected events testing the government and media's capability. Against such a situation, both the government and media should make efforts to establish a comprehensive system for handling public relations crises.

Governments should positively make use of the media to guide the public. The media should contribute to supervising the government. Then a complementary relationship between governments, the media and the public can be built and crises and emergencies can be better handled.