Podcast
Police investigate journalist's report
Updated: 2010-08-31 13:56
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The latest police investigation into a journalist reporting negative news has captured the attention of the All-China Journalists' Association (ACJA).
The ACJA said on Monday it is listening to all the parties involved in the case, in which police in East China's Shandong province went to Beijing to examine the circumstances surrounding a journalist's negative news report.
Police from Laiyang of Shandong summoned Wen Liang, 39, from the Beijing-based news portal qianlong.com, for questioning earlier this month.
The Beijing-based China Youth Daily reported that Wen, who previously filed a story on a biotech company in Laiyang that "cheated" to gain financing, was maintaining a low profile in his hometown in Southwest China's Sichuan province and had not returned to Beijing to meet with the police due to "fear and anger" over the investigation.
The latest police intervention in the field of journalism came two months after Zhejiang police wrongly accused a business reporter of allegedly damaging a corporation's reputation and placed him on a wanted list.
On Saturday, Yichun police in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province apologized for mistakenly detaining four reporters covering a plane crash in the area.
"We have received materials related to the (Laiyang) case and we are hearing voices from different parties to study the facts," Jia He, an official with the rights protection division of the ACJA, told China Daily on Monday.
Jia said complaints about inaccurate reporting are usually taken up directly with the news organization or by resorting to litigation.
However, he added, it is procedurally correct for every citizen, including Wen, to cooperate with the police during their inquiries.
According to Jia, although there appeared to be a rising number of incidents in which the police had either challenged or obstructed news reporting, there is not enough objective evidence to conclude that police intervention has become a trend.
（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.
