Paper issues plea for the release of journalist(2)

Changsha police invited the Hunan Diyang Judicial Identification Office to verify the losses in the 18 reports on Sept 17 and found Chen was suspected of faking and spreading false information, thus damaging Zoomlion's reputation and causing the company heavy losses.

In its statement, The New Express said the only error the journalist made was a reference to Zoomlion's 513 million yuan ($84.4 million) "advertising costs" instead of "advertising and operating expenses".

Du Feng, an assistant to Zoomlion's chairman, told Xinhua News Agency that Chen did not directly interview or contact the company before writing the reports.

The State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said it has paid close attention to the case and will stand up for the rights of reporters, the China Press and Publishing Journal reported on Thursday.

The decision by police to detain Chen has been questioned by newspapers, journalists and lawyers, as they doubted whether it is legitimate for the police to interrogate a journalist without formal charges and evidence.

"As evidence provided by The New Express suggested so far, what Chen did was part of his job," read an editorial by Beijing News on Thursday. "Police have so far failed to provide evidence of him breaching the laws.

"It is inappropriate to detain a reporter who is performing his duty on the presumption of guilt without concrete evidence."

Xia Nan, a lawyer with the Beijing Huayi Law Firm, said: "The reports on Zoomlion by Chen Yongzhou are public. (The police) need only to investigate the reports to determine whether he is guilty or not, rather than bringing him in for interrogation.

"If the police are handling the case fairly, they should at least allow him to be released on bail."

Xia said the lesson from the case is that journalists should take stricter measures to protect themselves.

"There should be a major adjustment regarding the method of gathering evidence and investigation, the selection of news materials and archiving, and the process of editors examining news stories," he said.

With a registered capital of 7.7 billion yuan and a workforce of more than 30,000, Zoomlion and its subsidiaries earned more than 90 billion yuan in sales revenue and paid more than 12 billion yuan in taxes last year. It is listed on both the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges, according to the company's website.