Zi Beijia, a Chinese reporter who fabricated a TV news story
alleging that Beijing dumpling makers used cardboard as a filling,
was sentenced on Sunday to one year behind bars. He was also fined
1,000 yuan for the crime of "infringing upon a commodity's
reputation".
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court heard the case in
an open court.
According to the court record, Zi, 28, had worked as a temporary
employee for the Beijing Television Station in the Life Channel
sector before being arrested.
In June 2007, he visited some steamed stuffed bun ("baozi")
stands but failed to find any cardboard-filled buns.
In order to advance his career, Zi, under the alias of Hu Yue,
then went to the No.13 courtyard inside Shizikou Village,
Taiyanggong Township of Chaoyang District. There he requested four
migrant workers who had been preparing breakfast "baozi" to make
meat buns for him. He lied, promising that he would buy a large
quantity of the stuffed buns.
The four meat bun makers were identified as Wei Quanfeng, Zhao
Xiaoyan, Zhao Jiangbo and Yang Chunling. They are all from Huayin,
a city in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Later Zi returned to the same venue a second time, bringing
cameras, pork, flour and cardboard.
In order to film the process, Zi is alleged to have instructed
Wei and his fellow villagers to make the "baozi" by soaking and
crushing discarded cardboard he had collected and mixing it with
pork. These buns were supposedly fed to dogs.
Zi used a home DVD camera to film the bun making process. He
turned in his film report after editing it.
Zi concealed the truth from the Beijing Television Station,
enabling his program to be aired on July 8 on "Transparency", a
slot of the station's Life Channel sector. The program caused
a great public outcry and ruined the reputation of the relevant
commodities, according to the court ruling.
Zi pled guilty during court proceedings. He claimed that he had
not been thinking rationally when he made his film. He admitted
that he had deceived both the Beijing Television Station and their
audience.
Zi made a sincere apology to the audience, the Beijing
Television Station and all other relevant victims. He advised the
journalistic staff to learn from his waywardness and to observe
journalistic ethics.
The court ruled that Zi, as a temporary employee of Beijing
Television Station, deliberately fabricated news and hid the truth
to get his program aired, causing pernicious effects. By
fabricating and disseminating fake news he gravely infringed upon
the reputation of certain foodstuffs. Due to the seriousness of his
crime the verdict was made accordingly.
In another development, the four migrant workers involved in the
scandal are suing Beijing Television Station for defamation.
"The Beijing TV station's failure to review the story carefully
led to the fake bun scandal, which also damaged the reputations of
Wei Quanfeng and three other migrant workers," said Zhang Shilei, a
lawyer from Beijing Jingzhe Lawyer Firm, acting on behalf of the
four people.
Zhang explained that the four workers had decided to sue the
Beijing TV Station instead of the reporter himself because they
thought that, seeing as Zi had already been sentenced to one year
in prison with a fine, he would be unable to give them
compensation.
"Wei Quanfeng and other three who involved in the fake bun story
have filed their lawsuit with the Haidian District People's Court,
near where Beijing TV Station is located," said Zhang, adding that
they were waiting for the court's decision about whether to hear
the case.
(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2007)