Gov't News Websites to Improve Art, ContentOperators of leading government-funded news websites in China vowed at an Internet show that ended Sunday to improve website design and contents in order to meet the demands of the growing Net readership in China.They also committed themselves to adding interactive services such as online forums and reader hotlines to encourage netizens to discuss hot topics, vent their anger or initiate newsworthy stories online. Ideas were also traded on how to hone the websites into a major news platform for China's online community, which is expected to be the world's largest in five years. Pressure is mounting from private-funded portals, which have attracted a large readership with their attractive webpage designs, interesting news content and reader-friendly services, all backed by strong technological know-how. Now, however, news websites run by People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV and China Daily and other government-funded news media have, for the first time, joined hands to show their latest innovations in the first Shanghai International Internet Websites Promotion Exhibition, which closed Sunday in the Shanghai Exhibition Centre. This, the largest ever Web show in the last two years in Shanghai, has given them a good chance to get close to their future readers. "I used to think that government-funded news websites were boring. But when I logged onto websites from Nanfang Daily and Xinhua News Agency recently, I was surprised to find their webpages were improving," said Liu Yudong, a college student who attended the exhibition. Gu Jianxiong, a computer engineer, said he prefers government-funded news websites because of their accurate and authoritative coverage of hot topics or breaking news. He also complained that private-funded portals, for the sake of profit, tend to air news that relates to sex, violence and speculation, and which is often not authoritative. A recent slip-up has weakened the image of privately funded websites, which released the news that China is ready to phase out the hotly-debated two-way mobile phone billing system - news which turned out to be a rumour. Government-funded websites fought back with stories from the Ministry of Information Industry announcing that the news was unfounded. However, operators of government-funded websites still admit that the challenge remains. Source: China Daily |
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