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Govt websites mustn't run ads

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-23 07:44

The core value of a government website is to offer services to citizens rather than create ad revenues, says an article on the website www.china.com.cn. The following is an excerpt:

It has recently been reported on the Internet that the government website run by Shaoyang, Hunan province, will run commercial advertisements. Some people are strongly opposing this move, saying that ads will tarnish the image of the government.

It is true that government-run websites have been the rage in the past five years, but it does not mean they can go so far as to run ads to make profits. We should not forget the original purpose of running a government website: It is not to ensure economic returns, but to open an electronic platform for government affairs so that government employees can offer better services to the citizens through this communications channel.

Now, most government websites still cannot effectively provide services to the visitors and thus have little value for netizens. These websites are just wasting taxpayers' money.

A service-oriented government website should look like waiters at the doorway of a hotel, asking what kind of help they can offer to the customers. Since the idea of building a service-oriented government is quite popular in China now, we might as well start from building a service-oriented government website.

(China Daily 12/23/2008 page8)