The Dangers of Censoring the Media

An accident at China's largest nuclear plant forced the shut down of the facility.

It took 14 fire engines, 66 firefighters and five hours to bring the fire under control. One firefighter was injured. But apparently no radiation leaked from the plant.

A pretty scary incident, wouldn't you say? So how come it took more than three weeks for it to be reported? Because the Chinese media were forced to keep silent by the regime's censors. Were it not for the greater freedom Hong Kong media enjoy, the story probably would have never been reported.

Reuters picked it up from the Ming Pao newspaper in Hong Kong and then distributed worldwide.

When it comes to the security of the public, transparency and accountability actually save lives. But the Chinese bosses won't learn that lesson. They instinctively scramble to keep bad news under wraps, sometimes, as we have denounced several times, with tragic consequences.