The New Express, a Guangzhou-based newspaper, Wednesday published a front-page editorial demanding the release of one of its reporters held by police in Changsha, Hunan Province, while the police authority insisted the reporter had fabricated negative reports about a partly State-owned enterprise and caused huge losses to the company.
The editorial, titled "Please release the reporter" in large font, questioned the detention of Chen Yongzhou by Changsha police on charges of "allegedly damaging business reputation," claiming that even though the paper is small, it has a backbone.
On Wednesday, the Changsha Public Security Bureau said the New Express fabricated facts and published 18 negative stories about the Changsha-based Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Development Co Ltd, 14 of which were bylined by Chen, between September 2012 and August 2013, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Changsha police authority accused Chen of fabricating facts about Zoomlion's loss of State assets, "distorted marketing" as well as sale and financial fraud, said the report.
Back in July, Gao Hui, an aide to the chairman of Zoomlion, claimed on his Weibo account that Chen was paid by the company's rival to publish negative reports, which later led to the New Express lodging a libel lawsuit against him.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior executive with Zoomlion Wednesday told news portal sina.com.cn that the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's publicity department and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC have stepped in to the investigation.
A statement released on the website of the New Express later Wednesday said that staff at the paper had checked Chen's reports and found only one flawed fact in his reporting. It also noted that Chen didn't violate any law or professional ethics.
"There is no explicit expression in the Criminal Law to protect the rights of a reporter. That results in the cross-regional criminal detention of Chen," a manager with the New Express who declined to be identified told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Chen's detention soon seized nationwide attention, with many people questioning its judicial basis.
"Journalistic reports, even those with mistaken facts, can hardly be subjected to the Criminal Law. This is a basic rule to protect journalists' legal rights," Zhan Jiang, a professor with the Department of International Journalism and Communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times, adding that if Chen were found to have violated professional rules, the company could sue the newspaper for compensation.
According to the Criminal Law, a person who fabricates and spreads untrue information, causing serious damage to an enterprise's commercial reputation, could face up to two years' imprisonment.
"We received the requests for an investigation from the local journalists' association in Guangdong Province on Tuesday night. We have paid close attention to the case and the investigation has started," an official with the All-China Journalists' Association told the Global Times on Wednesday, adding that they would make every effort to protect the legal rights of reporters, but if they found Chen had violated professional ethics, they would punish him according to relevant regulations.
Meanwhile, an official from the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television was quoted by media as saying that the department has coordinated with related departments to ensure that the issue is handled in an impartial and steady manner.
"The huge public concern about Chen's case is good for the development of the news publishing industry," Song Jianwu, dean of the School of Journalism and Media at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times, adding that the case would provide a reminder to local police forces and governments to use their public power prudently, even though their motives may be justified.
Zoomlion, a Shenzhen- and Hong Kong-listed company, ranks seventh in the global construction machinery industry, according to its website.
Affected by the news, the price of the company's stock Wednesday declined by 5.9 percent on the H-share market.