Media should not flatter power

The two girls that died in the Asiana plane crash aroused the sympathy of a nation but some insensitive comments are an insult to the deceased, said a column in Beijing News (excerpts below).

"Had the two girls known that Cai Qi, director of the organization department of Zhejiang provincial Party committee, was following them on micro blog, they would smile with joy and even jump with astonishing happiness."

The sentence above comes from a feature story in China Youth Daily on the recent Asiana plane crash that killed two girls, written by its reporter Zhong Qinghong.

Anybody with common sense would know how insensitive this story is.

More seriously, the story insults the girls by imposing upon them a feeling that they never felt. By using the victims to flatter local officials, the story has broken a universal moral code.

The author of the story is an old hand. The only explanation for his deeds lies in flattering powerful officials. Actually, a recent micro blog of the author best explains his motive: "The two girls never left any words concerning politics … I need to make some for them."

China Youth Daily has deleted this sentence from the on-line version, but it still did not apologize.