Journalists warned away from paid news, blackmailing

The All-China Journalists Association on Sunday warned journalists against covering stories for payment.

All journalists should abide by the profession's ethics and ensure the truthfulness of stories to safeguard the reputation of writers and the media's credibility, it said in a statement.

The association publicized three violations.

In one case, West Times reporter Li Jing in 2007 fabricated news about land compensation graft in northwest China's Gansu Province. Li extorted 130,000 yuan (21,000 US dollars) from the government by threatening to release the news, according to the association.

In another, Zhangjiakou Evening News in north China's Hebei Province told its staff to sell a certain number of newspapers or face wage cuts should they fail to hit their "sales" targets.

In the final case, a reporter from a charity-related newspaper the Cishan Gongyi Bao, formerly known as Jinri Xinxi Bao, accepted a kickback of 60,000 yuan to cover the plight of villagers in a land compensation battle from 2008 to 2011, it said.