1. National A7
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2007
Journalist punished for articles on inferior materials
Newspaper ordered to sack
reporter over rail scandal
...................................................... “damage to the image of the Wu- sufficient overall facts ... drawing Pang said he had been suspended
On track
Vivian Wu
Guang railway project at home and wrong conclusions and subjective from his job and had no idea what the
Propaganda authorities have pun- abroad and large-scale state eco- speculation inconsistent to the future would hold for his career.
The Wuhan-Guangzhou railway is due to
ished a reporter who tried to raise the nomic loss”, caused by the reports. facts”. He said he had been pressured by
open in 2010. The cost of building the
alarm over the alleged use of low- The newspaper was required to The statement said investigators the Ministry of Railways since the first
railway in yuan
quality materials in construction of “reinforce the education of Marxist were sent to the construction site report was published on July 4. He
93b
China’s first high-speed railway. ideology to its journalists and after the reports were published and said he still wanted to be a reporter.
The crackdown comes amid enhance its political awareness to found no flaws. “Officials from the Central Propa-
efforts to create a harmonious media avoid such cases in the future”. It criticised Pang for not identify- ganda Department, the All-China
atmosphere ahead of the Commu- The reporter’s punishment fol- ing himself as a journalist in inter- Journalists Association, the Ministry
......................................................
nist Party’s 17th National Congress. lows that of Beijing TV reporter Zi views and contacting “so-called of Railways and the Wuhan-Guang-
The Central Propaganda Depart- Beijia , who reported a bogus insiders, informants and other peo- zhou Railway Construction Com-
The length of the railway
ment and government-authorised story on steamed pork buns made ple who are not employees of the pany repeatedly called our newspa-
995km
All-China Journalists Association with cardboard. Zi was later sen- construction company”. per to stop me doing follow-ups,”
issued a circular last week denounc- tenced to one year in prison. “He didn’t report to relevant Pang said.
ing reports by the China Economic Since Zi’s case, the media has departments for further investigation “I believe what I wrote in the sto-
Times on the use of substandard been reeling under a wave of attacks … but ran the stories hastily for a sen- ries is true but now I am just a lamb to
pulverised fuel ash – used as a filler or from the authorities under the guise sational effect based on the self-inter- the slaughter.”
......................................................
a component of concrete – on the of cracking down on fake news. est of his newspaper,” it said. The propaganda department was
Wuhan-Guangzhou railway as Pang Jiaoming , 24, an in- project with a budget of 93 billion Propaganda department sources demanding that he hand over all of
“inaccurate”. vestigative reporter at the China yuan. He also tried to untangle the had sent a notice to news organisa- his interview notes and the contact
Wedded to wheels. A couple climb aboard a tandem
They ordered the dismissal of the Economic Times, claimed that huge web of business dealings, and identi- tions nationwide to bar them hiring details of his unnamed sources.
reporter responsible and punish- amounts of substandard pulverised fy the responsibility of builders and Pang as a reporter. But Pang said he was obliged to
bike in Hefei in Anhui province as a more
ment of newspaper officials. fuel ash produced by a dozen plants project supervisors. It also said several officials at the protect sources and he would never
ecologically friendly means to reach their wedding
The circular also ordered both the in Hunan and Guangdong But in a harshly-written an- newspaper would face punishment, expose them.
reporter and newspaper to formally had been mixed into concrete for the nouncement, the authorities criti- but newspaper chiefs all refused to He said he had tried to conduct
reception. Around 10 million couples marry
apologise to the Ministry of Railways railway bed, posing a potential risk to cised the reports as untrue and comment on the case because of its interviews at the construction site,
annually on the mainland. Photo: AFP
and construction companies for the railway, a key infrastructure “based on partial evidence without sensitive timing ahead the congress. but had not received a response.
Around the Nation
Beijing rat poison by a canteen worker.
Forty-two staff fell sick in the attack,
which was apparently carried out in
revenge after a conflict with a
Animal epidemics decline colleague, Xinhua reports. Police
Incidents of major animal epidemics found the cook bought poison from
have decreased, according to the a vendor two weeks ago.
Ministry of Agriculture. There were
Miners trapped after fatal blast
10 outbreaks last year, a drop from 31
in 2005 and 50 in 2004. Three bird flu – A coal mine gas
JIANGXI
cases were reported in Tibet explosion killed one worker and
, Hunan and injured two in Fengcheng city’s
Guangdong provinces in the first Shangtang township, Xinhua
three quarters, and about 280,000 reports. The accident occurred on
pigs were infected with blue-ear Saturday as 283 miners were
disease in 286 counties, a ministry working in state-owned Jianxin
spokesman told Xinhua. mine. Eighteen miners were still
trapped underground yesterday.
Pests prove costly imports
Pests concealed in imported plants
cause 56 billion yuan of losses
Central/South
annually, Xinhua reports. This
accounted for 60 per cent of the total
Boost for solar power
annual losses caused by pests, said
Pan Hongyang, of the Forest Pest GUANGDONG – The provincial
Control Office, with global warming government is considering
one of the factors in the spread of legislation and subsidies to
imported pests. encourage the use of solar energy,
New Express reports. Suitable
60pc of military goods utilised households may be obliged to install
More than 60 per cent of China’s panels to improve efficiency.
military technology and products,
Mayor’s singing raises funds
including 100,000 patents, had been
converted for civilian use, an official GUANGDONG – Guangzhou Mayor
said. China News Service reports the Zhang Guangning helped
military industry now makes up 65 raise 12 million yuan by singing at a
per cent of industrial output value. charity show, the Yang Cheng
Evening News reports. The show was
Roads to HK, Taiwan planned part of a municipal campaign that
Roads linking Beijing with Hong has raised 46 million yuan since May
Kong and Taiwan are planned for for improving education,
the coming decades as part of productivity and employment in
proposed changes to the Bohai deprived areas in the province.
region’s public transport
infrastructure, China News Service
reports. Seven roads would also be
West
built by 2020 to link the capital with
other provinces, the report said.
Tibet adds sites to heritage list
Average migrant worker older TIBET – The autonomous region
The average age of a migrant worker added 64 more heritage sites to its
on the mainland last year was 31½, list of key protection targets this
an increase of 1½ years from 2004, year, increasing the number of
the Beijing Morning Post reports. protected sites to 112, Xinhua
The average male employee was 33 reports. An influx of tourists,
and female worker 29 last year, the particularly since the Qinghai
Ministry of Agriculture announced. -Tibet railway was completed last
year, has threatened some cultural
Online game players profiled sites in the region.
Most online game players on the
Panda travels from US for mate
mainland are young, single social-
elites, according to a survey – American-born
SICHUAN
conducted by Horizon Research, giant panda Meisheng will travel to
China News Service reports. More Sichuan this month, China News
than 31 per cent were under 25 with Service reports. The visit by
around 10 per cent earning more Meisheng, born in San Diego, is part
than 3,000 yuan a month. of a joint research programme
between China and the US, and it is
hoped he will be able to find a mate
in the Wolong panda breeding
East/Southeast centre near Chengdu .
Medics poisoned by cook On the Web Tomorrow’s
– Five medical
ZHEJIANG stories today: See these
workers were in serious condition at headlines and more from
a hospital in Haining after noon every day – only
eating food that had been laced with at china.scmp.com
Memory lane. People of Wuhan, Hubei celebrate the
50th anniversary of the first railway-highway bridge
over the Yangtze River. Photo: Xinhua