China Digital Times (CDT) » Post Tag: Lan Chengzhang

Send Me Your Tired, Your Hungry Your Chinese Freelancers – David Bandurski

Sophie Beach — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:40:38 +0000

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, questions that have larger implications for journalism and free speech in China.
Last month, in an article appearing at the online China Media Observation (CMO), scholars Ling Chen and Li Hongbin discussed the now-classic “cardboard bun” hoax, in which freelance TV reporter Zhai Beijia was jailed for producing a fake news report about unscrupulous vendors filling steamed buns with a mixture of meat and cardboard. [Full text]

[Image: A photojournalist poses with workers for hire, via Xici Hutong]

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Post tags: cardboard dumplings, journalists, Lan Chengzhang, media conditions
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The Most Awesome Fake Reporter In History – ESWN

Wu Nan — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:50:18 +0000

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 reporters during a three-hour period. They took away more than 20 press cards that were forged. In less than a month’s time, the Yuncheng Cultural Publishing Bureau caught more than 30 fake reporters. [Full Text]

Read QQ runs interactive feature page on the problem of “fake reporters” in China

China Mine Boss Jailed Over Death – BBC

Sophie Beach — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:08:14 +0000

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 man received a year sentence for harbouring the suspects.
The court in Shanxi sentenced Hou to life in prison for causing the death of another by malicious injury.
Mr Lan’s family were also awarded 300,000 yuan ($40,000) in compensation from the defendants. [Full text]

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Post tags: crime, Lan Chengzhang, mines
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Serving Justice, or Saving Face – Angry Chinese Blogger

Xiao Qiang — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:43:26 +0000

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.

(...)
Read the rest of Serving Justice, or Saving Face – Angry Chinese Blogger (109 words)

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Post tags: Lan Chengzhang
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China Trial Over Reporter’s Death – BBC

Sophie Beach — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:48:39 +0000

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 charged with “intentionally causing physical hurt to others”, while a seventh is accused of harbouring the suspects, state-run Xinhua news agency said. [Full text]

- Read the Xinhua report here.

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Post tags: coal mines, crime, Lan Chengzhang
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China: No more money-for-coverage – Joe McDonald

Sophie Beach — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:45:56 +0000

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 of a newspaper employee drew attention to the seamier side of the industry.
Newspapers also must make sure that only properly accredited reporters are allowed to conduct newsgathering, the China News Service said, citing an order by the national news industry regulator. [Full text]

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Post tags: Lan Chengzhang, media corruption, media regulations
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Six charged over China mine murder – agencies

Sophie Beach — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:20:25 +0000

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 province, an official has said.
The six were arrested for beating up Lan Chengzhang, a reporter with Beijing-based China Trade News, and a colleague, although charges against the six were not specified.
“Six people have been charged for the crime. This investigation is over,” a media relations official with the Datong city government, told AFP on Tuesday. [Full text]

- See also a People’s Daily report on the murder investigation. Read more about the case, via CDT’s Biganzi.

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Post tags: coal mines, Lan Chengzhang
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Charges due in China mine killing – BBC

Jing Luo — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:05:33 +0000

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 working in China where the media is tightly controlled. [Full text]

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Post tags: Lan Chengzhang
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Oriental Outlook on Lan Chengzhang, N/A Online

Jonathan Ansfield — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:51:19 +0000

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 magazine, published by Xinhua News Agency, gains access to a detention center in Datong to interview Hou Si, a.k.a. Hou Zhenrun. Hou’s the mining boss who perpetrated the attack on the China Trade News journalist and according to peasant witnesses, struck the fatal blow to Lan’s head with the handle of a pickaxe. Hou confirms to Oriental Outlook that in the three days prior to Lan’s arrival, he paid off reporters from five other publications who stopped by his unlicensed coal pit demanding hush money, to the tune of 16,000 RMB. Then Lan and colleague Chang Hanwen showed up and rang Hou by phone while he was out to lunch. That’s when Hou finally cracked, the magazine asserts. He rounded up seven drunk underlings and they drove over to confront Lan and Chang. Hou recounts:

“I went to check out the situation. If they were real reporters and gave me good treatment, then I’d give them a little money. But if they were fake reporters, then I’d set them straight,” Hou Zhenrun told Oriental Outlook Weekly, describing the situation at the time.

(...)
Read the rest of Oriental Outlook on Lan Chengzhang, N/A Online (1,062 words)

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Post tags: censorship, Lan Chengzhang
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The System of News Bureaus Killed Lan Chengzhang? – Ma Jun

Sophie Beach — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:06:33 +0000

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 illegal coal mines and the news bureaus are obviously the cause of death of Lan Chengzhang, such that his beating death was inevitable. Thus, our whole report followed these two roads.
On one hand, the illegal coal mine generate so much money that the mine bosss could afford to be indifferent to deaths. When a mine accident occurs, the boss will pay some money. The local government will try to cover up because it does not want any tarnish on its political accomplishments. On the other hand, the reporter has the “duty” to make “enough money” for the news bureau.
When these two roads converge, Lan Chengzhang has no chance of survival. On one hand, there is the wealthy and ruthless mine boss. On the other hand, there is the continuous stream of real and fake reporters who want a piece of the pie. In the end, one side will lose control. The death of “Lan Chengzhang and others like him” must be said to be inevitable under this system. [Full text]

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Post tags: Lan Chengzhang, media conditions, Wang Keqin
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