Much has been written already on the widespread habit of some Chinese 'journalists' of making a living by blackmailing. Of course there is the sad case of the killing of Lan Chengzhang that exposed the top of a much larger problem.
Silicon Hutong points at an article in the Washington Post on "Black journalism". Most of us are used to the 200, 300 yuan 'taxi money' Chinese journalists routinely receive at press conferences. Silicon Hutong makes a strong case against even those smaller bribes, as he describes a typical cycle of bribing.
5. A month or two later, another reporter from the same publication calls you and asks you to comment about a horrendously negative article both about your company and the "miserable" poor performance of the Frodo Superwidget 3000.
In the course of the discussion, he suggests it might be possible to postpone the article, and in the meantime he sends you a copy. It's nasty, but with just enough truth to keep him out of the courts. He calls your PR agency with an offer: RMB 15,000 and the article goes away. After much internal discussion, you figure it's a bargain to avoid having to clean up afterward. You pay it.
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