A gold mine blast killed 38 miners in Yixingzhai, Fanzhi County, Shanxi Province, north China, on June 22, 2002. But the truth had been covered until September 2003, when the Xinhua News Agency published the results of a lengthy investigation into the accident. It was discovered that 11 journalists had taken bribes to keep silent.

On September 26, Xinhua published the names of the journalists and their employers: Shan Baohong, An Xiaohu, Wang Dongping and Tanxu with Xinhua's Shanxi branch; Su Yong with the Shanxi Economic Daily; Liu Yuzhu, Bai Jianfang and Yan Zhenshou with the Shanxi Legal Times and Wei Ting, Fan Wujie and Guolong with the Shanxi Life Morning Post. The bribes they took total 74,600 yuan (US$8,987) in cash and gold.

Power play between media and local authorities

On the evening of June 22, 2002, the mining business owners involved in the blast case, Yin San, Yang Hailong, Yang Zhoixing and Wang Jianyong worked together to make up the story of "two dead and four wounded" for the publication of the accident.

On June 24, 2002, Shan Baohong, An Xiaohu, Wang Dongping and Tan Xu arrived in Fanzhi after some of the victims' family members tipped off the facts about the blast to them. But instead of going straight to the site where the mine tragedy had took place, the four guys visited the Party committee and government of Fanzhi County, who later generously fed them up.

Wang Jianhua, the then Party secretary of Fanzhi County, invited Hu, an official with the publicity department of the Party committee of Qizhou City, whose jurisdiction covers Fanzhi, to Fanzhi to discuss about their strategy to handle the situation. Hu presented his idea by saying: "It will cost some money." Then Wang Yanping, the county magistrate, ordered an allocation from the county treasury to settle the trouble.

Hu flattered the four Xinhua reporters and sent them back right away to Taiyuan City, capital of Shanxi Province, after feeding their stomach and soul. Of the four of them, Shan and An each received 20,000 yuan in cash plus a gold ingot worth 2,400 yuan; Wang and Tan each got a gold ingot of the same value.

When the scandal of Xinhua reporters receiving bribery was brought to light, Shan Baohong once inquired of authorities in Qizhou and Fanzhi about how to mend the situation and was told that as long as they all kept their lips tight they would never have any trouble, whereupon Shan felt assured. An Xiaohu was alerter than Shan and he turned over the 20,800 yuan (US$2,516.12) which he hadn't yet spent to the anti-corruption account of Taiyuan City on July 10, 2002 despite that he also received safety promises from Qizhou and Fanzhi.

Press broker in dirty trade

An official with the Shanxi Legal Times disclosed that after the June 22 gold mine blast happened, Su Yong, a journalist with the Shanxi Economic Daily, invited three journalists of the Legal Times stationed in Qizhou, namely, Liu Yuzhu, Bai Jianfang and Yan Zhenshou to cover the accident. Later, when Liu, Bai and Yan left Fanzhi after they had gathered materials for their reports, Su pulled up with them on their way back in Daixian, Shanxi. Su told them that the Fanzhi authorities had trusted him to bring them some money and request them not to report the blast. Su then gave Liu 8,000 yuan (US$967.74), and Bai and Yan 7000 yuan (US$846.77) each, 22,000 yuan (US$2,661.28) in total.

On July 12, 2002, Liu, Bai and Yan turned in the 22,000 yuan to the Qizhou Party Discipline Inspection Committee in the name of paying back to Su Yong. It's still unknown that whether Su has turned in the 8,000 yuan he received from Fanzhi.

Su had left the Shanxi Economic Daily before his doings came to light and Liu, Bai and Yan now still work for the Shanxi Legal Times.

Sources said that Su, Liu, Bai and Yan's responsibilities in office well include advertisement, distribution, writing and editing.

Besides the above-mentioned four, another three journalists with the Shanxi Life Morning Post, namely, Wei Ting, Fan Wujie and Guo Long, each accepted 5,000 yuan (US$604.84) from local officials or mine bosses, who expected them to keep silent over the mine disaster. 

Not only these 11

On September 30, 2003, at the Dongguan Hotel in Shahe Town, Fanzhi, the son of one of the mine owners, Yin San, said that only Yang Zhixing knows how many journalists had received bribes, and that the number must be much more than 11 and the money must have exceeded 74,600 yuan. Shahe is the town where the accident took place.

It is said that after the accident happened, involved mine owners sent informers to coach stations, railroad stations and airports in Fanzhi, Qizhou and Taiyuan to spot incoming journalists. As soon as a journalist was identified the informers would negotiated with him or her about the price of the bribe. Then, after receiving their cash and gold ingots, many journalists turned back before they ever reached the accident site.

The relevant departments of discipline inspection and supervision in Shanxi disclosed on September 29, 2003 that the bribe case has been devolved upon the Shanxi Provincial Procuratorate and all the 11 involved journalists might face legal punishments.

(Huaxia Times October 9, 2003, translated by Chen Chao for china.org.cn, November 1, 2003)