Newspaper offers apology after detained journalist's confession_美文

Newspaper offers apology after detained journalist's confession

In May, it said, a middleman bribed Chen to post a story about the company's advertisement, but it was the newspaper that wrote it instead of the suspect as he was on a business trip.

The article said Zoomlion had spent "513 million yuan ($84.33 million) on advertisements", arousing a sensation in the industry and causing Zoomlion to deny the claim, according to the report.

Chen said in the CCTV interview the newspaper quoted the company's statement out of context. The journalist, who has worked for the newspaper since 2009, said he barely verified the materials provided by others and just revised some parts before posting.

The articles were forwarded a large number of times through his account on Sina Weibo, Chinese largest Twitter-like service, CCTV reported.

"I knew my reports might damage the company's reputation, but I never thought the influence would be so serious," CCTV quoted Chen as saying, adding he received about 500,000 yuan from the middleman. The middleman was not identified in the broadcast.

In the interview, Chen said he regretted his behavior and hoped other journalists would learn a lesson from him.

Changsha police said the case is still under investigation.

Guo Xuehong, vice-president of Zoomlion, said he had read the apology of the newspaper but declined to comment further. "What we will do is to wait for the result from the police and other judicial organs," he said.