Live streaming local govt work can increase administrative transparency

A country head live streaming part of the local government's day-to-day work is a good way of improving communication between government officials and residents, says China Daily writer Wang Yiqing:

Liu Jianjun, county head of Duolun county, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has become an internet celebrity with about 100,000 followers by live streaming part of his work. Inspired by the use of new media in selling local specialties, Liu first used live streaming to promote local tourism.

After he realized live streaming could be used to better communicate with the local people, he began using the medium to help solve local residents' problems and improve governance.

In July, Liu found that parts of the grassland in Duolun were damaged because some people had driven vehicles through them.

Condemning the people who had caused the damage, he asked them to turn up during his live streaming and own up to their actions. His live streaming triggered public discussions and eventually forced the violators to appear before Liu and openly apologize.

Realizing the influence of new media, Liu discussed with other local officials whether parts of the local government's work could be live streamed. So far, the live streaming of more than 30 local departments' work has yielded good results.

Although not all local governments or officials have to live stream their work, Liu's innovative application of new technologies to improve grassroots-level governance should be promoted. As Liu said, live streaming is only a tool to help solve the problems that local residents face. If advanced technologies provide better platforms and channels for facilitating communication between government officials and the local residents, local officials should use them to better serve the people.

Besides, the use of new media－to live stream government work for example－will promote transparency, by making local officials more accessible to the public, which in turn will help improve local residents' trust in grassroots governments.