官谣 (guan yao): Official rumors

Xinhua News Agency reported on April 21 that Gong Weiguo, mayor of Linxiang of Central China's Hunan province, was being investigated by local police for drug abuse. The week before there had been news that Gong was detained because of drug abuse, but the local authorities officially responded that he was not feeling well.

These official responses have since proved wrong, which is tantamount to them being rumors. Netizens have called these kinds of untruthful comments from the authorities "official rumors". It reflects some authorities' failure to disclose information to the public truthfully and in a timely manner.

Rumors have great negative influence on society and should be seriously dealt with according to the law. There have been cases of people being punished because they spread rumors, but seldom are government officials held accountable for "official rumors". Given everyone is equal before the law, there is the need to improve government information disclosure to ensure any official who gives untruthful information to the public is held accountable.