Local govt in Hunan apologizes for paid survey  

湖南邵阳官方叫停“说好话给补贴”并致歉

针对网民和媒体反映“邵阳发短信求市民配合民调，说好话给补贴”的问题，中新网记者10日中午从湖南邵阳市官方最新获悉，邵阳市委、市政府采取紧急措施，立即叫停此举，并向网民表示歉意。 [查看全文]

(ECNS) -- The Shaoyang government in Hunan province has stopped paying local residents to say good words about the city in a survey and apologized for the practice, chinanews.com learned Tuesday.

Residents in Shaoyang city were paid to praise the city when they got a survey call from the provincial government, Beijing News reported.

"Only if people in Shaoyang say their hometown is good can the city be really good," says the text message sent to each resident with the promise of a 300 yuan ($49) subsidy for a 5-minute call log sheet.

A staffer from the Shaoyang government said residents can get the subsidy merely by showing the call records.

The caller ID must be from the provincial government, he said, adding that no conversation details were needed.

The local government said it had criticized the office that sent text messages.

Many people in Shaoyang and Changsha said false results of a public opinion survey won't show people's true ideas and can mislead decision makers.