Watchdog to look into Nongfu’s complaint
Print Edition
China’s press watchdog said yesterday that it will look into an alleged smear campaign by the Beijing Times newspaper against a major bottled drinking water company.
Nongfu Spring filed a complaint with the office for publications under the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television on Monday.
It comes on the heels of the arrest of a New Express Daily reporter who admitted to taking money to write defamatory articles against a state firm.
With its complaint, Nongfu opened a new round of battle with the newspaper which earlier this year reported that the quality of the company’s barreled water was “even lower than those of tap water.”
Targeting the company’s product quality as well as the provincial standard it follows, the monthlong 67-page criticism by Beijing Times since April eventually forced Nongfu Spring to suspend barreled water production in the Chinese capital.
The company is currently suing the newspaper for staining its business reputation with fabricated reports, and demanding 60 million yuan in compensation. According to its latest estimate, it lost about 2 billion yuan worth of sales since Beijing Times published its first report against the company.
Zhou Li, a spokesman for Nongfu Spring, said the company saw the message sent out by the authorities that they will intensify its crackdown on false and paid news reports and “extortion journalism.”
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