25 arrested in alleged media scam  

21世纪网总裁刘冬等25人被批捕 涉敲诈勒索等罪

10月10日电 据上海市人民检察院官方微博消息，10月10日，上海市人民检察院第一分院以涉嫌敲诈勒索、强迫交易、非国家工作人员受贿和对非国家工作人员行贿罪，依法分别对“21世纪网”总裁刘冬、副总编周斌、《理财周报》社发行人夏日、主编罗光辉、《21世纪经济报道》社湖南负责人夏晓柏等25人批准逮捕。[查看全文]

A total of 25 people from the Chinese media sector have been arrested for an alleged scam in which suspects collaborated to extort money from companies in return for favorable coverage.

The No. 1 Branch of Shanghai Prosecution Service arrested Liu Dong, president of 21cbh.com, and Zhou Bin, deputy editor-in-chief of the website, on charges of suspected extortion, forced transaction and graft.

They were arrested alongside other media executives, including Money Week publisher Xia Ri and its chief editor Luo Guanghui, as well as Xia Xiaobo, who was in charge of a branch of 21st Century Business Herald in central China's Hunan Province.

In late September, Shanghai's public security bureau announced on a Sina Weibo microblog that they had detained Shen Hao, publisher of 21st Century Business Herald, and its general manager Chen Dongyang with the assistance of police in southern China's Guangdong Province.

The two were caught alongside the publication's editor-in-chief, surnamed Liu, as well as two other sales personnel.

Earlier, eight media personnel had been detained, including members of 21cbh.com, as well as heads of two PR firms, on suspicion of extorting money from more than 200 companies in return for favorable coverage on the site.

21cbh.com is run by Guangdong-based 21st Century Media Co., Ltd., which claims on its website to be "the largest professional media operator in the Chinese financial and business media industry."

The company's publications include 21st Century Business Herald, Money Week and 21st Century Business Review.

Under regulations set by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which manages the practices of all journalists in China, press credentials will be revoked in cases where media organizations have acted illegally.

Chinese authorities have been stepping up a crackdown on extortion in the media and paid-for news.

They have discovered problems such as press cards issued to people who are not journalists and newspaper websites contracted to advertising or PR agencies.