Two Chinese journalists jailed for fabricated stories

Two Chinese journalists received jail time on Friday over fabricating news reports targeting a major listed engineering company, said a local court in central China's Hunan Province.

Chen Yongzhou, of daily newspaper the New Express, based in Guangzhou of neighboring Guangdong Province, was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison for inflicting damage to the commercial reputation of Zoomlion with a series of false reports between September 2012 and May 2013, said a verdict by the Yuelu district people's court in Changsha, capital of Hunan.

The reports had resulted in the company's stocks dropping and public accusations against its management.

The 28-year-old was also convicted of taking 30,000 yuan (4,900 US dollars) in bribes in May 2013, it said.

The court ordered confiscation of his illegal gains and added an additional 20,000 yuan fine.

Meanwhile, Zhuo Zhiqiang, co-writer of one of the untrue stories, was handed down a 10-month jail term and ordered to pay a fine of 10,000 yuan.