Wang Xiaolu, a journalist with Caijing Magazine, delivers what looks like a forced apology after being held by Chinese authorities for a week.
A Chinese news reporter who has been held for a week by authorities in China, accused of spreading “false information” about the economy, has surfaced.
The state broadcast network CCTV today aired footage of Wang Xiaolu appearing to apologize. He says he solemnly regrets writing the influential story he did, about the nation’s recently troubled stock market. I’m sure nobody told him that he should say that.
“A statement aired by a state-run broadcaster, before the ‘suspect’ has ever appeared in court, shows the lengths to which the Xi Jinping government will go to intimidate journalists,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz. “We call on Chinese authorities to immediately release Wang Xiaolu.”
Wang, a reporter for the Beijing-based business magazine Caijing, has been placed under “criminal compulsory measures,” which could result in jail, house arrest, residential surveillance, or other actions, according to the state press agency Xinhua. The Chinese government has not disclosed whether Wang has been officially charged, and no publicly disclosed court hearings have taken place
From Xinhua, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China:
Wang Xiaolu, journalist of Caijing Magazine, has been placed under “criminal compulsory measures” for suspected violations of colluding with others and fabricating and spreading fake information on securities and futures market, Xinhua learned on Sunday.
Wang confessed that he wrote fake report on Chinese stock market based on hearsay and his own subjective guesses without conducting due verifications.
He admitted that the false information have “caused panics and disorder at stock market, seriously undermined the market confidence, and inflicted huge losses on the country and investors.”
Previously on Boing Boing: “China: police detain financial reporter for “spreading false information” about stock market”
Photo: Reuters