sales promotion

Description

After a mall fire in Ji county, Tianjin, the authorities restricted local media's reporting. In addition, they attempted to block other media and publics' questions to the accident. Local authorities warned citizens that no discussion was allowed, otherwise they would be arrested. However, more information about the fire was still circulated online by insiders. Originally official media claimed, there were only 50 customers in the mall at that time. This aroused netizens' angry reactions. On July 7th, xinhuanet.com Tianjin channel cited Wang Fang, deputy manager of the mall saying that the five-story department store has 103 counters with 70 retail staff. There were 120 salespeople and other staff and only a few customers in the mall when the fire took place. Wang Fang claimed that she was on the fifth floor, with no more than 20 people there. She said there were only about 50 customers in total in the whole mall at the time. However, her words were questioned by the public. Media reported previously that the mall was holding a big promotion event on that day and many customers were there. It seems that there were a few hundred people locked inside mall when the fire broke out. Tianjin resident Mr. Wang: "Definitely many people were inside the mall. If it was not at a weekend without sales promotion, there wouldn't be so many people in the mall. But it was on Saturday with sales on, therefore it attracted many customers. After all this is the largest mall in Ji County." On June 30th, Laide Shopping Center in Ji County, Tianjin caught fire which lasted a few hours. The five-story building was burnt down. On July 5th, Tianjin official micro-blog announced that 10 people died with 16 injured in the accident. Bodies of the dead were collected by their families. However, this death toll was questioned by the public. Insiders revealed that far more than 10 died in the accident, at least in the hundreds of people killed by the fire. Some also said that the confirmed death toll was 378. A partial list of the dead was publicized by some netizens. Mr. Li, a propaganda manager from Ji County answered NTD by repeating the same official statements in an interview. He also claimed that no one was missing. When he was asked about authorities' restriction on a truthful report, he said he was unclear about it. Shenzhen scholar, Zhu Jianguo pointed out that in China, power is above the law, and only state media had a chance to speak for its purpose. There is no freedom of the media. Zhu Jianguo: "State media's rule is to report good news only, talking big of the achievements and covering up the truth. This is the first one of the rules. Secondly, the 18th Congress is approaching. High level officials are attempting to enter Zhongnanhai. Their followers also hope to be promoted. Therefore they will cover up the death toll because they share the same interests." After the fire, media in Tianjin were silenced and journalists from non-state media were banned from interviewing. Recently, the internet was also cut off in Ji County. An insider revealed that a staff member from the crematorium as detained after he said "200 dead bodies were delivered there on that day". All staff of Ji county hospital involved in the rescue were also told to keep silent. The victims' families received 610,000 Yuan compensation as the cost of keeping silent, or they will be suppressed. Civilians were warned that any discussion of fire or posting any relevant messages online will get them arrested. Ms. Zhao, Tianjin resident says: "Don't ask me about the accident. I know nothing about it. I have been notified from meetings that whoever mentions the fire in an interview would be arrested." However, the authority's suppressions have induced more rage from civilians. On July 6th, tens of thousands of city residents demonstrated on the streets, to mourn the dead from the fire. They also called for an investigation into the real facts behind the accident....