Media coverage of environmental pollution in the People’s Republic of China: responsibility, cover-up and state control

Abstract

On 13 November 2005, an explosion rocked the Jilin Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), spilling nearly 100 tons of benzene into the Songhua River. Six people were killed in the blast, and thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes. The explosion also resulted in an 80-kilometer slick of toxic benzene in the Songhua, which supplies the municipal water system of Harbin, a city of more than 5 million people in China’s northeastern region of Manchuria. Benzene is a clear, colorless liquid that is used in industrial solvents and for making plastics, rubber, resins, nylon and polyester. Acute exposure to high levels of benzene causes dizziness, headaches, elevated heart rate, and possibly death. Long-term exposure to benzene, a known carcinogen, has been linked with immunological defects, cancers such as leukemia, and toxic effects on the blood, liver, kidney, lungs, heart and brain (ATSDR [Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry], 2007). The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), which conducts airand waterquality monitoring, and sets national emissions standards, established a safety threshold of 5 micrograms of benzene per liter of drinking water (MEP, 1996); following the chemical plant explosion, benzene levels in the Songhua River exceeded that level by more than 100 times. Government authorities avoided notifying the public for more than a week, shutting down the entire municipal water system of Harbin for several days under the guise of conducting ‘routine repairs’. However, China Central Television (CCTV), which operates under state control but exercises some editorial autonomy, reported on the story immediately. Panicked residents,