Take, for example, a person who helps an old man who is knocked down while getting off a bus. The old man accuses his helper of being responsible for his accident and takes him to court, where the man is convicted and ordered to pay compensation for the injuries the old man has suffered. As far as the helper is concerned, he is the real victim.

But can we reach the conclusion that our social morals have degraded to such a point that anyone who helps others will end up paying for his or her good deeds?

It is okay for an ordinary resident to reach such a conclusion. But as a professional commentator, we should never view it this way. There are always people in any society who have no morals at all. The previous example is a true story and it is unfortunate that the person the helper extended his helping hand to happened to be a person of such low moral standing. Maybe, there are more bad apples now than there used to be. But it is still without foundation to generalize that the social morals of Chinese people have degraded dramatically.

By being cynical, professional commentators will send the wrong message to readers. As Chen says, "We cannot consume the emotion of the general public with seemingly right concepts or pseudo social problems."

Professional commentators must have a sense of social responsibility and must have a strong sense of public concern. We must be aware in advance how our commentaries will affect the readers. For example, in the aforementioned incident, jumping to a hasty conclusion about the general degradation of Chinese people's morals will likely cause an increasing number of people to refrain from extending a helping hand to the needy. That is not in the interest of anyone.

Commentators must conduct research into social problems and accumulate their knowledge about particular problems, this will help them reach balanced and in-depth conclusions.

Now that nearly every Internet user has the ability to have their voice heard by the general public, it becomes ever more important for professional commentators to use reason and judgment in their analysis of social problems.

This is not just in the interests of the country, it is also in the interests of the public.

The author is a senior writer of China Daily. He can be reached at zhuyuan@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 12/01/2010 page8)