Phoenix website editor jailed for deleting stories for money
Staff Reporter
2015-06-08
An ifeng pavilion at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing. (Photo/CFP)
A former editor at ifeng.com, the website operated by the Hong Kong-based Phoenix New Media, was recently sentenced to five years in prison for being paid to delete stories, reports the Beijing Times.
The 29-year-old convicted website editor, identified only by his family name of Qiu, was found to have deleted over 100 stories in exchange for 118,000 yuan (US$19,000) in total between October 2012 and October 2013, the newspaper said.
Qiu pleaded guilty to bribery for his actions, but argued that his illegal gains only stood at 96,000 yuan (US$15,500) and that changes made to some of the stories should not be considered a crime.
Qiu first worked at the news website operated by Phoenix New Media as an intern from October 2010 and became a full-time employee in June 2011, the newspaper said.
He said he was contacted by a woman surnamed Lu, who offered him 800 yuan (US$129) for each story deleted at her instruction.
The website said records show that Qiu deleted around 1,500 articles and made changes to another 9,846 during his time working for the news website.
Qiu's lawyer asked the court of Beijing's Chaoyang district to show leniency because he had no prior criminal record and confessed to the crime, as well as returning 100,000 yuan (US$16,100) of his illegal gains.
