App to help media relay nation's news

The State Council Information Office on Thursday launched an app and an online briefing hall to provide the latest, most authoritative information about China and to offer better services for reporters from China and abroad.

The SCIO Release and Online Briefing Hall app was activated by Jiang Jian'guo, minister of the State Council Information Office, and three other senior officials on Thursday during a New Year reception in Beijing.

The SCIO Release app will be available in Chinese and English. In addition to offering news conferences organized by the State Council Information Office, central departments, ministries and local governments, the app will provide updated information about developments in China.

The Online Briefing Hall will provide information on interview opportunities as well as a platform for asking questions.

"The State Council Information Office has held more than 120 news conferences in 2016," said Jiang. "The number would reach several thousand if you included the news conferences held by different ministries and local governments."

In 2017, the State Council Information Office will be even more open and play a bigger role in connecting China with the rest of the world by strengthening communication with media and offering better services, he said.

Patrick Baert, chief of Agence France-Presse's Beijing bureau, said he hopes the app will offer easy access to statistics. "Sometimes we have trouble in searching for statistics about China, and figures from different sources don't match," he said.

More than 400 representatives from major world news agencies, as well as diplomats stationed in Beijing and representatives of central departments and ministries, attended the reception.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn