China

BEIJING: A Chinese court sentenced a man to life in prison Wednesday for taking nearly $500,000 in bribes while posing as a reporter -- and sometimes a top editor -- for the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily. Liu Yonghong had promised low-level officials outside Beijing that he could help them get promotions or work transfers by delivering their bribes to top leaders in the...

A court in Xingjian, north-west China has sentenced Ablikim Abdiriyim, the son of renowned Uigar activist, Rebiya Kadeer, to nine years in prison for posting “secessionist” articles online, in what Reporters Without Borders called a “travesty of a trial”. China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that the 17 April verdict indicated that the young activist had sent the offending articles to the...

At 9 p.m. in a dark Shenzhen parking lot, Dr. Bai Xiuyu handed over a plain envelope in what was supposed to be a discreet blackmail payment to a local reporter in this southern Chinese city. The money in the envelope – 15,000 yuan, about $2,000 (all figures U.S.) – was to be paid to three reporters who'd threatened to go public with a story saying her health clinic was providing services it was...

Yahoo Inc. did not violate Hong Kong’s privacy laws when it provided prosecutors with information about a Chinese reporter accused of leaking state secrets, authorities said Wednesday. Shi Tao, a former journalist for the Dangdai Shangbao or Contemporary Business Newspaper in the central province of Hunan, was sentenced last year to 10 years on charges of leaking state secrets. Shi was alleged to...

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has rejected a request by the China Newspaper Association to withdraw the Golden Pen of Freedom awarded to journalist Shi Tao, who was imprisoned for writing about restrictions on the media in the run-up to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Golden Pen of Freedom will be awarded to Shi at the 60th World Newspaper Congress, 14th World...

China's advertising expenditure via television, newspapers and magazines reached 386.6 billion yuan (49.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006, up 22 percent on the previous year, according to the Nielsen Media Research. Television remained the most favored medium among advertisers, accounting for 81 percent of the total ad expenditure on the three key forms, said Nielsen. Advertisements for medicines...

Nearly six out of 10 journalists in Hong Kong believe press freedom has diminished since the territory returned to Chinese sovereignty. Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) members staging a protest. About 60 per cent of the journalists interviewed thought that self-censorship was more serious now than 10 years ago as evidenced by the recent tendency of the press to downplay either negative...

CHINA'S Communist Party propaganda department has launched a points-based penalty system to try to rein in the increasingly muck-raking print media, a Hong Kong newspaper reported today. Media outlets will be allocated a dozen points that the propaganda department and the government media regulator can deduct one, three, six or all 12 at a time, the newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying. It...

NEWSPAPERS may change a bit to become more appealing to highbrows who seek more dialogue-driven communication instead of one-way education. According to a recent survey published by Edelman, a global public relations firm, newspapers received relatively low rates of trust among important people who have the power to make decisions in China. The survey was conducted by Edelman in partnership with...

LAN Chengzhang sat in a car outside the office of a mining company while a colleague ventured inside to make inquiries. It was his first month of work with his newspaper and Lan had decided to take on what anyone in the area knew could be a most dangerous subject: The illegal coal mines that proliferate in the sooty hill country of Shanxi province. Within minutes, a band of men armed with lengths...