Last year, about 20,000 officials, from the level of town chiefs to senior State leaders, were tried in court for suspected corruption, and received various degrees of punishment according to the country's laws and the Party's constitution.

Despite that, top leader Xi Jinping said late last year that corrupt officials who are sacked and tried in court are not only testimony to the success of China's fight against corruption, but also a heavy loss for the country. In fact, many corrupt officials have regretted not getting a second chance to serve the people and rued the fact that their wrongs were not corrected before it was too late.

The media should know that rampant corruption is the result of lack of strict supervision, not individual actions. And Xi has repeatedly emphasized that China urgently needs to build institutions that can prevent people from falling prey to the lure of money.

Since the anti-corruption drive has been upgraded from a temporary case-by-case campaign to a long-term constitutional mission, the media should endeavor to improve the quality and perspective of their reports on corruption cases, focusing more on constructive analyses and promoting the rule of law.

China urgently needs a law to regulate the media and to ensure that media outlets coming out to dig the truth are not overshadowed by those that only want to cash in on sensationalism. And this is where the rule of law is especially important, because only strict implementation of the law can prevent the media from infringing upon the legal rights of people, even if they are suspects.

The author is a writer with China Daily.

liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/10/2015 page5)