A former Vice President of Xinhua news agency who masterminded a crackdown on Guangdong’s relatively liberal media since May 2012,  55-year old Tuo Zhen was promoted on July 18, 2015, to Deputy Head of the Central Publicity Department, a ministerial level position. HongKong's South China Morning Post said that the promotion comes as a reward for tightening the restrictions on Guangzhou’s media,