When five firefighters died in a warehouse fire on Friday in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the local public security bureau soon posted a press briefing on its verified Sina Weibo account. Almost half of the response, totally less than 600 words, described the high attention government officials gave to the incident and their instructions as well as to emergency arrangements. But there wasn't enough space to record the names of the deceased firefighters. 

The post immediately triggered criticism online and consequently the image of the Harbin government was tarnished.

The stereotypical response to emergencies in official press releases and briefings always emphasizes leaders' attention to and their command in handling the emergency. Local governments hardly give pause to think about the possible effects of these briefings. What the Harbin government did is just an extreme illustration of this tendency.

Times have long changed. Governments are now just one source of information and are not in a favorable position. There is heightened passion to criticize official actions and also a public response pattern that tends to catch and amplify clumsy moves by government agencies and media, which results in the tarnishing of officials' reputations.

This typically happens when officials praise themselves, flatter their bosses, show off, engage in inappropriate intimacy with people or deal in empty talk. All these can be easily seen through and blown out of proportion.

What happened in Harbin is no big deal, probably because the editor of the Weibo account was not experienced enough or the officials in charge didn't know about public opinion online. They largely posted the briefing in a routine but inappropriate manner, which is however, no longer acceptable to the public.

Many netizens hold that the post intended to rid the leaders of their due responsibilities in the incident and displayed a lack of significance over the lost lives. It is not necessarily the case in Harbin, but frankly the stereotype of local governments indeed does sometimes leave this impression.

It suggests that some officials care less about the public and more about explaining matters to their superiors and not getting into hot water.

The government's creditability is a valuable asset in social governance, but has barely received systemic protection. A quantitative accountability framework is so far absent.

However, the creditability deserves immediate protection and high attention at various levels. If no measures are taken, then the criticism leveled at the Harbin government will likely trigger similar public disputes, which will erode both local and nationwide governance efforts.

The key lies in erasing bureaucracy and urging officials to be practical. Local governments and official agencies also need to take action to improve their abilities in dealing with public opinion.