Shanghai , China ( CNN ) -- China 's traditional iron-handed approach to the media has taken a surprise turn of tolerance with Beijing 's soft handling of a recent dispute with local reporters , in what could well become a more open attitude toward the media under the incoming administration of presumed new President Xi Jinping . The new openness is being driven in large part by pragmatism , as the government realizes that both traditional and newer media can serve as powerful tools for achieving many of its goals in the country 's modernization . The recent conflict between reporters at the progressive Southern Weekly and local propaganda officials over a censorship incident left many guessing how the government would respond to the first clash of its kind in China for more than 20 years . The result was a surprisingly mild approach , including mediation by a high-level government official and a vague promise for less censorship in the future . The unusually tolerant tack could well reflect a new attitude by Xi and other incoming leaders set to take control of China for the next decade , all of whom have come to realize the media can serve many important functions beyond its traditional role as a propaganda machine . At the top of Xi 's list is the fight against corruption , a problem he has mentioned frequently since taking the helm of the Communist Party last year . The party has tried to tackle the problem for years using its own internal investigations , but progress was slow until recently due to protection many officials received through their own sprawling networks of internal relationships , known locally as guanxi . All that began to change in the last two years with the rapid rise of social media , most notably the Twitter-like microblogs known as Weibo that are now a pervasive part of the Chinese Internet landscape and count hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese among their users . Those social media have become an important weapon for exposing corruption , allowing thousands of ordinary citizens to pool their resources and build cases against officials they suspect of using their influence for personal gain . This increasingly sophisticated machine was on prominent display last year in a case involving Yang Dacai , a local official in northwestern Shaanxi province who infuriated the online community by smiling at the site of a horrific accident scene . Netizens quickly turned their outrage into an online investigation , and uncovered photos of him wearing several luxury watches he could hardly afford on his government salary . As a result , the government ultimately opened an investigation into the matter and Yang was sacked from his posts . In addition to its role in battling corruption , the media has also emerged as an important tool for combating and addressing many of the other social problems that China is facing in its rapid modernization . Barely a week goes by without a report on the latest national food safety scandal or case of illegal pollution in both traditional and social media , with such reports often followed by government investigations . Beijing leaders have also discovered that the media can also be an important vehicle for improving communication between the government and general public -- something that was a low priority in previous eras when officials only cared about pleasing their higher-up party bosses . Following a Beijing directive in late 2011 , most local government agencies and other organizations have all established microblog accounts , which they use to keep the public informed about their latest activities and seek feedback on upcoming plans . Such input has become a valuable way to temper traditional public mistrust toward the government , which historically did n't make much effort to include the public in any of its internal discussions . Lastly , the government has also discovered that media , especially social media , can be an effective tool in gauging public opinion on everything from broader national topics like inflation down to very local issues like land redevelopment . Such feedback was difficult to get in the past due to interference by local officials , who tried to filter out or downplay anything with negative overtones and play things up to their own advantage . As a result , central government officials often received incomplete pictures of what was happening in their own country . With all of these valuable roles to play , the media has become an increasingly important part of Beijing 's strategy in executing many of its top priorities . The government also realizes that a certain degree of openness is critical to letting the media perform many of those roles , which may explain its relatively tolerant approach in the recent Southern Weekly conflict . Such tolerance is likely to continue under Xi 's administration , helping to shift more power towards a field of increasingly emboldened reporters at both traditional and new media and away from their traditional propaganda masters . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Doug Young .
Young : Handling of Southern Weekly row demonstrated tolerant side of new leadership . Traditional , newer media can serve as tools for achieving goals in China 's modernization . Comment: Young : Media has also emerged as an important tool for combating other social problems .