XIALU, China -- Wei Yi, a Beijing-based reporter for China Central Television's main news program, stood with his microphone in front of a little stone monument at the entrance to Xialu village. Against a backdrop of orange trees, he told millions of Chinese viewers how a government initiative had recently improved farmers' lives here with construction of new roads.

"Convenient transportation was made possible by this stretch of road that was just finished this year in the village," he intoned. "Outside merchants can now quickly ship out freshly harvested fruit." Later, viewers were presented with images of several dozen peasants, shovels in hand, working in unison on a new road.

Wei's Dec. 23 report from southern Guangxi province was hardly an accurate one -- the road he touted, farmers here said, had no connection to the new government initiative. But the broadcast probably pleased propaganda officials. They had helped organize it.