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Tan Yijie is doing more than giving her newspaper a good half-hour read. Beginning yesterday, the 17-year-old will report any problems or factual mistakes in her newspaper to the provincial association of journalists.

"I hope that our local media will get better and better," said Tan, a senior high school student in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province. Dailies, as well as news in the form of short text messages, are her major sources of information.

In a program arranged by Yunnan's publicity department, 100 citizens aged from 17 to 66 in Kunming and other Yunnan cities are acting as "voluntary media supervisors," responsible for overseeing the province's 10 newspapers.

Yunnan's publicity department, the chief regulator of newspapers and other publications, in late October caused a stir countrywide when its director announced that the department would pick 100 "voluntary media supervisors" from the citizens to step up oversight on the media, targeting flaws such as paid coverage, fake news, indecent reports and bad advertisements.

But the department's move raised fears that it will place new controls on the media from the public.

"The publicity department does not want to bind the hands and legs of the media too much," Wu Hao, 39, the department's deputy chief, said on Monday during an online press conference. "The 'voluntary media supervisors' will contribute to the media industry's self-regulation."

Questions:

1. Who organized this media volunteer program?

2. How many volunteers are in the program?

3. How many newspapers will be overseen in Yunnan province?

Answers:

1. Yunnan publicity department.

2. 100.

3. 10.

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Chantal Anderson is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site. Originally from Seattle, Washington she has found her way around the world doing photo essays in Greece, Mexico and Thailand. She is currently completing a double degree in Journalism and International Studies from the University of Washington.