China blacklists 100 journalists for involvement in bribery, blackmailing cases

Beijing, Apr 8(ANI): China's press watchdog, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), has blacklisted at least one hundred media workers and convicted over 20 journalists last year for involvement in bribery and blackmailing cases.

According to Li Dongdong, the Deputy Head of the GAPP, over ten newspapers, including the Beijing Times and the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald, received warnings or were suspended for publishing false reports in 2009.

The GAPP dealt with 556 cases, including 76 instances of journalists taking bribes or blackmailing others, in 2009 after receiving information from the general public, he added.

Dongdong further said the GAPP would strengthen supervision and management of media organizations that have repeatedly violated rules.

The figures were revealed after certain media reports suggested that nine journalists from eight media organizations had received jail sentences, ranging from one-and-half year to 16 years, for taking bribes to cover up a deadly coal mine accident in the country.

They accepted money from a coal mine owner in Weixian County, Zhangjiakou City in northern China's Hebei Province, in return for not reporting an explosion that killed 35 people on July 14, 2008, Xinhua news agency reports. (ANI)