A report by Hong-Kong based Ta Kung Pao on April 18 claiming that Chinese President Xi Jinping took a taxi in downtown Beijing and chatted with a driver named Guo Lixin was proven to be a hoax, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
04:25
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The Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao reported on April 18 that Chinese President Xi Jinping had taken a taxi in downtown Beijing on March 1 and chatted with a driver named Guo Lixin. |
14:05
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A Xinhua News Agency affiliate (@新华社中国网事) posted a message on Weibo that traffic authorities had confirmed the story. |
14:38
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Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport denied confirming the story on their official Sina Weibo account (@交通北京). |
17:32
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The Xinhua News Agency said that Ta Kung Pao’s story was not true. |
| 17:55 |
Takungpao.com issued a public apology for the false report. |
@田帆e天下：Chinese media as a whole should be ashamed of spreading this fake report. It reveals the tendency of journalists to spread news without verification, which leads people to believe that their reports are the result of investigation and interviews. The only silver lining here is that the rampant plagiarism and bad news practices common in Chinese media have been revealed.
@旁观者马勇: This hoax serves as an important lesson to the public and begs the question; if the media's only source of information is the government, how can anyone verify it? And the political system needs to seek further reform, otherwise even officials will be hard pressed to tell real news from fake. However, the report has been widely spread means the readers really want to believe that Xi Jinping would take a cab ride and chat with the driver.
@传媒梦工坊：Simply following the opinions of others and believing without understanding is blindness, but criticizing without full knowledge and acting on these beliefs is even worse.
@李袤：Where is this taxi driver? Shouldn't the media make him answer for his story? And how on earth did this news even come out?
@前行者-碧松：Why didn't media verify this report before it went viral? Now we see how news is manipulated. Where is your journalistic integrity? Please stop tricking us readers and stop making trouble.