Southern Metropolitan News reporter Weng Chong recently had two fingers of his right hand chopped off by gangsters. It is believed that the action was a retaliation for Weng's having written investigative reports on gangs and their crimes. The following are excerpts from two press comments.

Dangerous signal

An article by Zhang Tianwei in the Beijing Youth Daily calls for strengthening the predominant role of government departments in cracking down on criminals so as to spare the reporters the role of "hero".

Weng's case is one of several of similar nature in recent years. Obviously, the revealing investigative reports into the dark side of society triggered the retaliation. The gangsters exposed by media reports are hostile towards the media and some even resort to extreme retaliatory measures, all because they blame the media reports for their being caught and punished by law. The media have played a critical role in bringing some scandals to light.

Such a role of the media has exposed a lack or ineffectiveness of other supervisory and remedial mechanisms, signalling a danger that deserves attention. It also poses the question: Can the Chinese media, without sufficient protection, be the pioneers in cracking down on crime?

Admittedly, supervision is one of the media's most important social responsibilities. However, unlike law-enforcement departments, such as the public security and public prosecuting officers, the media are placed at a disadvantaged position in this battle since they are not backed with the legitimate use of force. Therefore we hope for more efforts to further strengthen relevant departments' leading role in cracking down on crime, which will lead to less burden on the media.

Better protection

An article by Ruan Zhanjiang in the Shanghai-based Jiefang Daily calls for enhanced protection for journalists.

The healthy functioning of a society requires a group of cool-headed professionals who reveal to the public all kinds of social issues in a timely manner, and journalists are such a group of people.

However, the establishment of journalistic professional ethics - they should not be scared by potential risks when they speak up - requires not only enhanced self-protection on the journalists' part but also a relatively safe environment.

However, to build up such an environment depends on relevant government departments' showing active management and supervision. It also requires continuous efforts from judicial and law-enforcement departments.

The author also hopes that society can view the incident in a rational way and refrain from playing up the danger the journalistic profession faces so as not to impair reporters' determination to seek justice.