Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

China mine pays "dozens of journalists" hush money
30 Oct 2008 03:55:40 GMT
 Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Dozens of journalists from various Chinese media organisations were paid hush money totalling 125,700 yuan ($18,500) not to report a coal mine accident in September, state media said on Thursday.

One of the journalists was later found to be a fraud but the coal mine, Huozhou Coal and Electric Group, nevertheless paid him 34,500 yuan, the China Daily said.

The pit accident killed one person in northern Shanxi province in September. The mine failed to report the death to the local government, the Beijing News said.

China has the most dangerous coal-mining industry in the world. A total of 3,786 coal miners died in gas blasts, floodings and other accidents last year as companies, often flouting safety regulations, rush to feed demand from a booming economy.

"We are firmly against journalists accepting bribes and people posing as journalists," the China Daily quoted Li Ruifeng, head of the Shanxi province bureau of press and publications, as telling a news conference on Wednesday.

Scams involving journalists and people posing as journalists to demand hush money are common in China.

Authorities jailed four men in October who tried to blackmail a local official by threatening to write incriminating information about government abuse of power in land usage.

In January, a reporter for a Beijing-based newspaper was beaten to death by hired thugs during an investigation into an unlicensed coal mine in Shanxi. Officials there said he lacked accreditation and suggested he may have been seeking payoffs. (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: ADRA Empowers Communities
ADRA - International

•  China: Faces of recovery
IFRC - Switzerland

•  China: Faces of recovery
IFRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  China construction lift collapse kills 12

•  Hong Kong finds melamine in yet more China eggs

•  China sends officials to handle Sudan hostage standoff

•  China mine gas blast traps 29

•  Internet Rights Protection Initiative Launches

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Background information

Facts & figures
China

Related articles

Breaking stories
 China mine pays "dozens of journalists" hush money (1 minute ago)

China construction lift collapse kills 12 (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Climate change fight needn't cost the earth - economist (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: ADRA Empowers Communities (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Yes, people over 50 have sex too (1 minute ago)

Maps
 GLOBAL poverty distribution - infant mortality as poverty indicator (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-10-30T035527Z_01_PEK03_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-ENVIRONMENT-CHINA-ENVIRONMENT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK03.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-10-28T095613Z_01_SHA101_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-WOMEN_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SHA101.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-10-28T095605Z_01_SHA102_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-WOMEN_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SHA102.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-10-28T093025Z_01_PEK212_RTRIDSP_2_AIDS-CHINA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK212.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-10-28T092855Z_01_PEK211_RTRIDSP_2_AIDS-CHINA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK211.htm

People make their way on a street as smoke billows from the chimneys of a power plant in Shenyang, Liaoning province October 30, 2008. China wants rich countries to commit 1 ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Thu Oct 30 03:58:55 2008