Jailed China journalist makes televised 'confession' that he lied about Chinese government corruption-BBC

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10/26/13, "China reporter Chen Yongzhou 'confesses on TV'," BBC

"An imprisoned Chinese journalist whose newspaper has made front-page appeals for his release has confessed to wrongdoing on state TV.

"I'm willing to admit my guilt and to show repentance," said reporter Chen Yongzhou. He was arrested over claims he defamed a partly state-owned firm in articles exposing alleged corruption."...

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"Analysis," Damian Grammaticas BBC News, Beijing

"In the footage, detained journalist Chen Yongzhou is paraded for the camera. Handcuffed and flanked by police officers he is marched along a corridor. Then he sits, a lone figure in a green police-issued top, in an interrogation room, making his purported confession. He's clearly susceptible to pressure. 

In many countries Chen Yongzhou's detention, and the broadcast of the footage of it, would provoke a legal outcry. Corruption is known in Chinese journalism, stories planted to blacken rival firms. But the facts of this case are murky and this "confession" does little to clear them up. 

All China's major construction equipment firms have been under severe financial pressure recently as the economy, so reliant on construction, has slowed. And after Mr Chen's newspaper printed a brave and highly-unusual front-page call for his release, the police have been under pressure too. 

The release of the "confession" may be their attempt to regain the initiative. But it's likely to fuel the row, with questions about the role of the police and of state television, and the way they have obtained and aired Mr Chen's admission."


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