Chapter 2770: Beating a Reporter

Baozhou City Propaganda Minister Hao Yinong personally took charge, settling these reporters into the municipal committee guesthouse. He also inquired about the situation, asking media outlets he usually had good relationships with, and those media outlets said this matter was first exposed on the internet.

This left Hao Yinong feeling somewhat at a loss. Although he was the propaganda minister, in this era, monitoring online public opinion was still a brand-new proposition, and Hao Yinong did not know how to monitor the internet.

If the influence of this matter had been limited to the internet, it would have been fine, but the key was that it had now reflected into reality. So many media outlets, considered influential nationwide, had sent reporters to Baozhou, so this matter was a big deal.

Therefore, Hao Yinong immediately went to find Municipal Committee Secretary Shi Fengnian to report the matter. Of course, before reporting, he had done some homework; he had his subordinates open several web portals, print out those posts, organize them into a booklet, and hand it to Shi Fengnian.

Shi Fengnian listened to Hao Yinong's report and looked at the organized booklet; his expression was very ugly.

Shi Fengnian naturally understood that such fierce public opinion, if not handled well, could potentially end his political life.

Shi Fengnian asked, "Have you checked? Where did this matter start?"

Hao Yinong pointed to the post at the very top of the booklet and said, "The post from this XX website is the source. Other websites all reposted this post, and then other media also reprinted it. At first, it only mentioned the problems in Yinshan County, but now it has spread to the entire city of Baozhou."

Shi Fengnian said, "What on earth is this internet? How does it have such great influence to make this matter so big?"

Hao Yinong actually did not know much about the internet either; this was normal. Currently, China's internet had not developed to a highly advanced stage. It could be said that at least 99.99% of people over the age of 35 did not understand the internet, and officials like them were even more ignorant of it.

However, he had also had the young people under him cram him on what the internet was, so he could still answer a few sentences: "Secretary, this internet is like me writing an article on a computer at home and uploading it to the internet, and people all over the country can see it."

Shi Fengnian frowned and said, "You mean, people all over the country can see these posts now?"

Hao Yinong said, "Those who have computers at home and can go online can see them."

Shi Fengnian said, "Can you find out who wrote this post?"

Hao Yinong said, "This is really hard to check. There are so many computers that can go online now, and anyone could have posted this. The young people in our department said that you don't even know if the person talking to you online is a man or a woman, let alone their name."

Shi Fengnian said, "So there's no way to find out who wrote it?"

Hao Yinong said, "There is a young person in our department who said he could check some IP address or something. I don't understand what this IP address is, but he checked it and said the post was made from an internet cafe in the city."

Shi Fengnian said, "Then seal up that internet cafe and arrest the owner."

Hao Yinong smiled bitterly and said, "Secretary, it's not that simple. There are so many people going online in the internet cafe, and anyone could have posted this. That person left after posting; what's the use of sealing the internet cafe and arresting the owner? Now that so many reporters have come to Baozhou, wouldn't this be handing them ammunition?"

After hearing Hao Yinong's words, Shi Fengnian also knew that his thinking was a bit simple. However, this was also a habit he had formed over many years. In Baozhou City, he was used to being a local emperor; whatever he didn't like, he would just arrest, never considering other things, since no one here could manage him anyway. ===== CHAPTER 2772 =====