HARBIN, August 17 – The 2009 National Conference on Legal Journalism was convened in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. The Vice Minister of Justice and President of All-China Legal Journalists’ Association Mr. Zhang Sujun stresses at the conference that legal journalism should adhere to principles, embody the zeitgeist, grasp the rules, be creative and proactive, and demonstrate the innovation and development of legal journalism.

    Zhang Sujun points out that together with the consistent development of socialist causes with Chinese characteristics since the reform and opening-up, the construction of socialist democracy and legal system has achieved eye-catching accomplishments. With the deepening of the construction of the democratic and legal system and the advancement of national legal publicity and education, legal journalism has been widely extended. The channels for law generalization have been broadened, covering all areas of the construction of democracy and rule of law and every aspect of people’s lives. By highlighting issues related with people’s livelihood and guiding the public opinions, legal journalism has become the limelight among all kinds of news media. It has formed a new multimedia network with multi-perspectives and three-dimensions, and its role in the implementation of the policy to administrate the country according to law has been demonstrated.

    Zhang Sujun indicates that this year China is at the juncture of coping with the financial crisis and maintaining steady and relatively rapid economic growth, therefore legal journalism should center on the overall deployment of the work of the CPC and the entire country, vigorously generalize laws and regulations related to the promotion of steady and relatively rapid economic growth, the protection and improvement of people’s livelihood, especially laws and regulations on labor employment, social security, food and drug safety, safe production, and the promotion of social harmony and stability, and effectively guide people to express their interests demands, protect their own legitimate rights and interests and expect for more social equity and justice ; legal journalism should center on the maintenance of social harmony and stability, emphasize the generalization of laws and regulations about economic and social management as well as lawful petition and protection of rights and interests, and play a role in maintaining sound economic and social orders; legal journalism should center on the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, highlight the publicity of the glorious achievements in the construction of socialist democracy and  legal system, especially the fruits of legal generalization and education during the 30 years of reform and opening-up; legal journalism should cooperate with the National Office of Popularization of Law in the publicity of large-scale thematic activities such as “Strengthening Legal Publicity in Enterprises and Actively Addressing Global Financial Crisis”, “Enhancing Farmers’ Legal Quality and Promoting Rural Reform and Development”, “Six Entries of Laws” and “National Legal Publicity Day (12.4)”, and continue to expand the coverage and deepen the penetration of legal education.

    Zhang Sujun emphasizes that legal journalism should devote more efforts to the guiding of public opinions and the innovation of news communication. The social influence of emerging media represented by the internet should be fully recognized, its building, application and management highlighted, and its role in improving communication and guiding public opinions brought into full play. The internet should be built into an effective platform to communicate the socialist concept of the rule of law, to carry forward it socialist spirit, and to provide legal services. Besides, legal journalism should also lay more stress on theoretical research since it’s an important task in promoting the development of legal journalism. The features and rules of legal journalism should be studied to vigorously promote the innovation of the working philosophy, channels of publicity as well as working modes and methods and further strengthen the pertinence and effectiveness of legal journalism.

    The theme of this conference was “the innovation and development of legal journalism”. Centered on the implementation of the instructions of the 17th National Congress of CPC on the strengthening of legal publicity and education, participants explored the rules of legal journalism, analyzed the operation modes of legal media, and exchanged ideas on the promotion of rapid and sound development of legal journalism under the new situation.

    Director General of Department of Legal Publicity, Ministry of Justice and Standing Vice President of All-China Legal Journalists’ Association Mr. Xiao Yishun and President of Legal Daily, Vice President of All-China Legal Journalists’ Association Mr. Jia Jingping chaired the conference respectively. President of Law Press China Mr. Huang Min, Director General of Department of Justice of Heilongjiang Province Mr. Liu Yichang, Member of Municipal Standing Party Committee and Secretary of Politics and Law Committee in Harbin Mr. Wang Weixu, and Director of Bureau of Justice of Harbin Mr. Qi Jiamin attended the conference. Present at the conference were also legal journalists from the central and local newspapers and university professors and students, making the participants totaling at about 80. (By Correspondent Guo Yi)
(Source of the Chinese Article: www.legalinfo.gov.cn)