Two scribes sentenced in China for fabricating reports

Two journalists in China were today sentenced up to 20 months in prison for fabricating news reports targeting a listed engineering company.
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, Yuelu district people's court in Changsha, capital of Hunan said in its verdict.
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 (USD 4,900) in bribes in May 2013, it said.

The court ordered confiscation of his illegal gains and added an additional 20,000 yuan fine.
Zhuo Zhiqiang, co-writer of one of the stories, was handed down a 10-month jail term and ordered to pay a fine of 10,000 yuan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The cases were stated to part of a crackdown by Chinese government on sections of official media whose journalists started putting out critical reports not in line with the official guidelines.
Some were also accused of taking bribes.