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Only 'dumbest' reporters actually write stories, 'smart' ones make money
By Wang Yong |
October 21, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JOURNALISM is only as good as journalists.
The detention this month of a famous former TV anchorman on possible charges of commercial fraud points up the glaring lack of professional ethics in many a Chinese journalist mired in their desire for money at the cost of a good conscience.
Fang Hongjin, former anchorman at CCTV and Shanghai Dragon TV, was released on bail on October 14. He faced possible charges of fraud from local police in Hebei Province, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
In February 2006, Fang approached Hualong, an instant noodle manufacturer in Hebei, and persuaded it to advertise in a TV series, promising that the product would appear in the series and be seen by millions of viewers. Fang, in a violation of journalists' ethics, had invested in an advertising company that handled, among other things, product placement on TV for clients.
In April that year, Hualong sent about 1.2 million yuan (US$175,780) as promised to Fang's advertising company, which failed to honor the contract that promised that Hualong noodles would show up in the TV series.
In January 2008, Hualong sued the advertising company. In June that year, local police charged Fang with possible fraud and began to investigate him with the help of the Internet. It was not until this month that local police took him into custody. He was released on bail after he repaid Hualong's 1.2 million yuan.
It's not clear yet what criminal penalty awaits him if he is convicted of fraud in a trial - or if there will be a trial. The details of Fang's contract with Hualong have not been disclosed. One thing is clear, though. It took local police more than one year to catch Fang. He was apparently a fugitive.
Even if he is finally proved legally innocent, he has violated China's code of ethics for journalists.
Clause 41 of China's Code of Ethics for Broadcast Reporters and Editors (2004) categorically prohibits working journalists from engaging in advertising or any other kinds of business.
Fang left Dragon TV at the end of 2006, but the noodle case began much earlier. And in 2005, he was supposed to return 8 million yuan he had borrowed some years ago from a health company in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. But he failed to repay the money in time. In 2006, local courts judged against him and he managed to return the money in 2007.
Although he was not accused of fraud in that case, it was crystal clear that he fiddled in business while he was still a popular TV anchorman. Dragon TV has distanced itself from the matter and said Fang has not been employed since 2006.
Fang may not seem to be a very bad person, but he is definitely among a group of Chinese journalists who feel ashamed at not being shameless enough in their pursuit of whatever kind of wealth comes their way.
About a decade ago, while I was still a reporter in Beijing, I heard a popular saying among many journalists: first-class journalists do business, second-class ones solicit advertising, and third-class ones write articles. That sadly still holds true among many Chinese journalists like Fang.
In 2002, 38 workers died in a mine blast in Shanxi Province. Xinhua reported in 2003 that 11 reporters, including some from Xinhua itself, had taken bribes from local officials in a conspiracy to cover up the accident. In 2008, a number of reporters, including people impersonating reporters, lined up at a local mine in the same province to take "hush money" to cover up the true casualties in an accident.
These reporters are not mouthpieces of the people, they're mouthpieces of money, nothing but money.
They are a breed apart from some older generations of journalists who, despite material backwardness in the 1920s and 1950s, devoted their life to courageous reporting in battlefields or the poor countryside.
The detention this month of a famous former TV anchorman on possible charges of commercial fraud points up the glaring lack of professional ethics in many a Chinese journalist mired in their desire for money at the cost of a good conscience.
Fang Hongjin, former anchorman at CCTV and Shanghai Dragon TV, was released on bail on October 14. He faced possible charges of fraud from local police in Hebei Province, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
In February 2006, Fang approached Hualong, an instant noodle manufacturer in Hebei, and persuaded it to advertise in a TV series, promising that the product would appear in the series and be seen by millions of viewers. Fang, in a violation of journalists' ethics, had invested in an advertising company that handled, among other things, product placement on TV for clients.
In April that year, Hualong sent about 1.2 million yuan (US$175,780) as promised to Fang's advertising company, which failed to honor the contract that promised that Hualong noodles would show up in the TV series.
In January 2008, Hualong sued the advertising company. In June that year, local police charged Fang with possible fraud and began to investigate him with the help of the Internet. It was not until this month that local police took him into custody. He was released on bail after he repaid Hualong's 1.2 million yuan.
It's not clear yet what criminal penalty awaits him if he is convicted of fraud in a trial - or if there will be a trial. The details of Fang's contract with Hualong have not been disclosed. One thing is clear, though. It took local police more than one year to catch Fang. He was apparently a fugitive.
Even if he is finally proved legally innocent, he has violated China's code of ethics for journalists.
Clause 41 of China's Code of Ethics for Broadcast Reporters and Editors (2004) categorically prohibits working journalists from engaging in advertising or any other kinds of business.
Fang left Dragon TV at the end of 2006, but the noodle case began much earlier. And in 2005, he was supposed to return 8 million yuan he had borrowed some years ago from a health company in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. But he failed to repay the money in time. In 2006, local courts judged against him and he managed to return the money in 2007.
Although he was not accused of fraud in that case, it was crystal clear that he fiddled in business while he was still a popular TV anchorman. Dragon TV has distanced itself from the matter and said Fang has not been employed since 2006.
Fang may not seem to be a very bad person, but he is definitely among a group of Chinese journalists who feel ashamed at not being shameless enough in their pursuit of whatever kind of wealth comes their way.
About a decade ago, while I was still a reporter in Beijing, I heard a popular saying among many journalists: first-class journalists do business, second-class ones solicit advertising, and third-class ones write articles. That sadly still holds true among many Chinese journalists like Fang.
In 2002, 38 workers died in a mine blast in Shanxi Province. Xinhua reported in 2003 that 11 reporters, including some from Xinhua itself, had taken bribes from local officials in a conspiracy to cover up the accident. In 2008, a number of reporters, including people impersonating reporters, lined up at a local mine in the same province to take "hush money" to cover up the true casualties in an accident.
These reporters are not mouthpieces of the people, they're mouthpieces of money, nothing but money.
They are a breed apart from some older generations of journalists who, despite material backwardness in the 1920s and 1950s, devoted their life to courageous reporting in battlefields or the poor countryside.
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