Li Datong, veteran editor of the outspoken China Youth Daily, wrote an open letter to the staff questioning a new appraisal system linking journalists' salaries to party praise, reports Asia Media. The letter of Li Datong, who is editor of Bingdian Weekly, a supplement running investigative stories every Wednesday, was posted on the popular chat room Yannan BBS, writes Asia Media.

In his "unusual show of dissent against the communist party's iron grip over the media" (AFP), Li Datong argues that the new system threatens editorial freedom: "Under such an uncivilised and unreasonable system, provided that editors and journalists have not gone mad, who on earth would still want to write reports which keep officials in check?" he asked. According to AFP, the appraisal system, that is planned to be implemented this week, works as follows: "Reporters would be awarded 300 points for stories praised by central government leaders, 120 points for those praised by the Communist Party Propaganda Department and 100 points for those praised by party officials. But by the same standard, reporters will receive negative points for writing stories that are criticised by these officials." The new editor-in-chief of China Youth Daily, Li Erliang, took over in December "in a reshuffle regarded as a sign of a tightening of media controls by the authorities", states Asia Media.

The appraisal system seems to be in line with China's efforts to tighten control over the media (see previous posting) and its policy against dissident writers (see previous posting).

Source: AFP, Asia Media