Ah Xiao, a young news vendor in Kunming City, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, has seen his income this month rise above 600 yuan ( US$72.6), his biggest monthly earnings since he came to Kunming from the countryside two years ago.

"I can earn 300 to 400 yuan a month by providing news tips to reporters," he said.

According to a report in the China Youth Daily, tipsters who provide news clues for the local media, mainly newspapers, are now emerging as a new profession in major Chinese cities.

They may work on a full or part-time basis, and Ah Xiao belongs to the latter group, the report said.

Chinese urban newspapers, living under pressure from increasingly intense competition with each other, are offering rewards for those who provide news clues, in the hope of winning as many readers as possible so as to increase their own competitive power. A tipster cab receive as much as 1,000 yuan for just one important news clue.

Statistics cited by the China Youth Daily show that as much as 80 percent of the hot news stories in a week in major Beijing-based newspapers come from tipsters.

News vendors like Ah Xiao account for most of the tipsters, for their long experience of selling newspapers enables them to foster a good nose for news, according to a survey conducted by the Journalism Department of Yunnan University.

Lao Hou, a full-time or professional tipster in Kunming, bought a second-hand cell phone a few days ago in order to provide faster news clues for newspapers than other informants.

"More and more people are joining this profession. But if a rival gets the clue to a nwspaper first, you lose out," he said.

Lao Hou listens to the radio everyday for news of traffic accidents. He also goes every day by bicycle to where he thinks something newsworthy might happen.

"The emergence of news tipsters is a natural result of press industrialization and newspaper marketization," said Professor Zheng Sili of the Journalism Department of Yunnan University. "It enlarges the news sources, lightens the burden on reporters, and promotes the localization and deepening of news reports."

Close

Today's Top News		Top National News
+Official: Push for independence risky ( 2003-11-26) +FM: Taiwan question to head Premier's US visit ( 2003-11-26) +7 Chinese killed in Moscow blaze ( 2003-11-26) +Experts look into sequela of SARS ( 2003-11-25) +US urged to be fair in trade problems ( 2003-11-25)		+Election for district people's congress goes smoothly in Beijing ( 2003-11-26) +News Tipster: new profession in Chinese metropolis ( 2003-11-26) +Official: Push for independence risky ( 2003-11-26) +7 Chinese killed in Moscow blaze ( 2003-11-26) +WHO: China advances in developing SARS vaccine ( 2003-11-26)