From China Media Project: We’ve written extensively at CMP about the institutional causes of poor media professionalism in China ” from the Lan Chengzhang case to the more recent “cardboard bun” hoax. Anticipating CMP fellow Lu Ye’s talk tonight on media corruption, we return again to the question of the deeper causes of poor ethics, […]
Fake reporters are not new in China, but here is the most awesome fake reporter in history. From People’s net, translated by ESWN: Fake reporters are rampant in the city of Yuncheng, Shanxi province. On August 4, inspectors at the Tonghua toll booth on state highway 209 in Wanrong county, Yuncheng city found 19 fake […]
The BBC reports that Hou Zhenrun, the owner of the mine where newspaper employee Lan Chengzhang was beaten to death in January, was sentenced to life in prison. SIx other mine employees were also sentenced: Five men were given sentences of between five to 15 years in jail for carrying out the attack, while another […]
From Angry Chinese Blogger blog: According to Xinhua, China’s state run media agency, seven men have been formally arraigned for trial over the murder of journalist Lan chenzhang, who was beaten to death on 10 January, 2007, while he was investigating illegal coal mines in Hunyuan country, Shanxi province.
BBC and Xinhua report that seven people have been tried for the murder of Lan Chengzhang, who was killed at an illegal coal mine in Datong while employed by a local newspaper. From the BBC: The trial, which began on Sunday, is taking place at the Intermediate People’s Court in Linfen, Shanxi. Six man are […]
Following the brutal murder of Lan Chengzhang in January, the Chinese government has announced new rules aimed at outlawing the common practice of paying for coverage. From AP: China’s government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common practice of demanding money from people they cover, a state news agency said Tuesday, after the killing […]
News agencies are reporting that six people have been charged with the murder of Lan Chengzhang, who was killed at an illegal mine when he worked for China Trade News newspaper: Police in China have charged six people over the death of a journalist who had been investigating a mining accident in the northern Shanxi […]
From the BBC News: Seven men will probably face charges after an investigation of the death of a journalist who was investigating a coal mine in Shanxi. Although some local officials say he was not an accredited journalist and may have been trying to extort money, there was still a public outcry among the reporters […]
Coverage of Lan Chengzhang’s killing will not die. Both China Newsweek and Oriental Outlook Weekly weigh in with cover features this week. Oriental Outlook opens from a particularly fresh and unflattering angle: the murderers’. It’s worth picking up a copy, because the piece is not available on the Web. (More on that below). The Shanghai-based […]
ESWN has translated an article in yWeekend, which includes interviews with the two reporters who have done the most extensive investigations into the murder of Lan Chengzhang. In it, investigative journalist Wang Keqin says: The situation of news bureaus was caused by the “real problem” of the illegal coal mines. The two roads from the […]
Following the New York Times report yesterday, another look into corruption in the Chinese media: Media extortion is relatively common in China’s mining industry, which is rife with illegal practices, but elsewhere press corruption is more subtle. Reporters at news conferences are routinely offered envelopes of cash, ostensibly to cover travel costs but with the […]
The New York Times covers the killing of Lan Chengzhang and corruption in the Chinese media: Attacks against journalists are not uncommon in China, even if deaths are rare. But in ways that few could have expected, the killing on Jan. 11 of this untested reporter for an obscure publication has become a watershed event, […]
Not to be suppressed, acclaimed journalist Wang Keqin has blogged unprinted portions of his probe into the death of reporter Lan Chengzhang. With the author’s permission, CDT’s Mo Ming translates them below. Lan died at the hands of illegal coal mine bosses whom reports indicate he was trying to blackmail. Wang’s missing passages, now posted […]
Such are the political and economic realities of China’s lethal coal mining business that all too often it doesn’t pay to play it clean. Sadly, the same can be said for journalism on the subject. Celebrated reporter Wang Keqin confirmed this for himself in the mining town of Datong in recent days. On Wednesday, the […]
ESWN has translated a lengthy report by prominent investigative journalist Wang Keqin into the murder of reporter Lan Chengzhang. The original Chinese article is here: The beating death by pickaxe handles and steel rods of China Trade News’ Shanxi bureau worker Lan Chengzhang by the owner of an illegal coal mine and his gang is […]
From BBC News: China’s President Hu Jintao has called for a swift investigation into the murder of a Chinese journalist at an illegal coal mine, state media said. The president’s extremely rare intervention follows an outcry over the beating to death of Lan Chengzhang outside the mine, in Shanxi province. The mine owner is among […]
From Reuters, via the Washington Post: Chinese police have detained three suspects in connection with the death of a reporter beaten to death as he investigated an illegal coal mine, state media said on Friday amid an outcry about media rights. Lan Chengzhang, who worked for the China Trade News, died of an apparent brain […]
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the Lan Chengzhang case and on corruption in the media in China: The phenomenon of people posing as journalists to extort money from businesses is not uncommon in China: A man went on trial this week in Beijing for threatening to write a critical article on his consumer website […]
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