Quicker information flow promised

Beijing committed itself to speeding up the information flow to the press, China Daily reported, quoting Zhao Qizheng, minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), who said the government would step up efforts to increase press accessibility and train more official spokespersons. "It used to be that all the data had to be complete before the tragedies were made public. Now whatever information is available will be released," the newspaper quoted him as saying. Zhao's office sponsored 60 news briefings involving 50 ministries and 7 provinces in 2004, up from only a few a decade ago, it said.