As the contaminated infant milk powder scandal deepens the importance of a free media and an uncensored society is becoming all too obvious.

So far at least four infants have died, and tens of thousands more are ill, as a result of taking a melamine infected infant milk formula. Claims have been made that Chinese dairy company Sanlu knew of complaints about their milk products eight months ago and lied about it.

The UK's Telegraph say this isn't an ordinary health disaster – authorities colluded with the companies who deliberately contaminated their products and failed to warn the public.

" … What has shocked many people in China, even those used to a heavily censored media, is how many people knew about the problem before it went public …"

Striving for stability

The Telegraph talk how during the Olympic torch relay officials had specifically warned the media that this was a sensitive time and "bad news" items such as health scares should be played down.

Time report that in the face of this and other recent disasters China's leaders have strived to preserve stability – and the rule of the Communist Party.

That means the authorities have to be seen as taking action, but it also means not allowing the blame to focus too squarely on the country's leaders.

" … Within days of the story breaking, the state media was commanded by the Propaganda Department to tone down its coverage of the tainted-milk-powder scandal. Lawyers looking to file suits on behalf of aggrieved parents were ordered in no uncertain terms to drop their plans. Internet discussions of this and other recent disasters were swiftly deleted …"

Ignorance or neglect

Time quote the World Health Organisation's China rep, Hans Troedsson, saying the issue of who knew what information and when is critical. He says:

" ...."Was it ignorance by provincial authorities or was it that they neglected to report it? Because if it was ignorance, there is a need to have much better training and education ... if it is neglect, then it is, of course, more serious." "

And China Digital Times say we are yet to learn if Sanlu's cover-up took advantage of the Olympics.

" …Also if you want to get an idea of how the Chinese government is handling the post-scandal media since the milk powder contamination was revealed, here are instructions reportedly from the propaganda bureau on how to report the incident … "

Sensing catastrophe

Southern Weekend editor Fu Jianfeng, via the China Digital Times, wrote on his blog about how one of their reporters, He Feng, received information in July about babies hospitalised for kidney stones.

" … But for reasons that everybody knows, we were not able to investigate the case at that time because harmony was needed everywhere. As a news editor, I was deeply concerned because I sensed that this was going to be a huge public health catastrophe ..."

In China, many human rights abuses are hidden from the public through its censorship and control of the media and the Internet. Execution statistics are a state secret. Important news events go unreported. Historical events aren't taught in schools. People whose rights have been violated are frightened into silence.

The Chinese Government use censorship to silence dissent and opposition in the name of harmony and social stability.