A Taiwan-funded company has slashed its defamation claim against two Shanghai journalists from 30 million yuan (US$3.75 million) to just one yuan (13 US cents).

 

An official with Hongfujin Precision Industry Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan's Foxconn that manufactures iPods for the US-based Apple Inc, told Xinhua over the telephone that the company would be applying to the Shenzhen Intermediate Court for an order to release the journalists' assets, which include their homes, bank accounts and a car.

 

The official also said the company would add China Business News, the publication that the two journalists work for, to the list of defendants.

 

Weng Bao, one of the journalist defendants, confirmed the news. "This is victory for the Chinese media," he said.

 

The company filed a defamation suit against Weng and his colleague Wang You over a report that described Hongfujin as a sweatshop, alleging among other things that it made its employees work standing up for up to 12 hours a day.

 

The decision followed several days of public debate during which the two journalists set up their own web blogs to air their grievances. Nearly two million people had visited the blogs by the mid-day Wednesday, most voicing their support for the journalists.

 

An online poll of 43,250 people launched by www.sina.com.cn showed that 48.1 percent of respondents believed that Hongfujin would lose the case, 41.22 percent argued that the company and journalists would reach an agreement, 5.81 believed the company would win and the remaining 4.87 were undecided.

 

The survey also showed that 83.22 percent of the respondents believed the two journalists did not damage the reputation of the company.

 

However, a reader who referred to himself as Fanhui (SHOULDN'T THIS BE FAN DUI?), meaning "objection" in Chinese, said: "The news report is a little bit sensational. They should investigate the case thoroughly."

 

Apple Computer said on Wednesday it was trying to settle a dispute over alleged labor abuses at its iPod factory in China, an awkward case highlighting the challenges big companies face in living up to their codes of conduct while outsourcing most of their production, according to an Associated Press report.

 

The case also reflects the pressures Chinese journalists face when trying to do their jobs.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2006)