A Chinese reporter accused of extortion in exchange for
suppressing negative news stories was sentenced to seven years in
prison in eastern Zhejiang Province on Thursday.
Meng Huaihu, 43, former head of the Zhejiang branch of China
Industrial and Commercial Times, was convicted of extorting
630,000 yuan (US$ 80,400) from an auto dealer, a construction firm
and a petrol company.
The people's court in Shangcheng district, Hangzhou, the
provincial capital, said Meng attempted to extort 3.73 million yuan
between 2001 and 2003, but was only able to collect 630,000
yuan.
The court heard that Meng received 350,000 yuan from a Sinopec's
Zhejiang gas station after promising not to write a story about a
driver who had trouble at the filling station. Meng gave the driver
170,000 yuan.
Meng, who was arrested in December last year, tried but failed
to extort money from China's appliance maker Galanz and Ping An
Life Insurance Company after he threatened to write negative
stories about their operations.
In May, China's State Administration of Press and Publications
(SAPP) said reporters Wang Qiming, Bu Jun and Chen Jinliang, had
also been arrested for extortion. They worked for the China
Food Quality Newspaper and two other Beijing-based
newspapers.
(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2006)