China starts journalists aid program

The All-China Journalists Association on Monday launched a program of providing aid to press staff, a senior official said.

The non-profitable program covers Chinese journalists who were killed or injured while doing their duty or behaving bravely for justice, said Zhai Huisheng, Communist Party of China chief at the association.

The applicants, once approved, will be given economic, medical or legal assistance, he added.

The first batch of aid will go to journalists reporting on the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that has killed 188 after jolting southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday, he said.