Shen Hao reflected: I violated the basic concept of journalistic ethics

In the eyes of many people, this "storm" is far from stopping.

Following the announcement of the news that "the editor-in-chief of the 21st Century Network and others were filed and investigated" on September 4, another heavy news was exposed on September 25, which continued to heat up the attention of the case - "Shen Hao, editor-in-chief of the 21st Century Newspaper Department, and Chen Dongyang, general manager, were taken away by the police on the afternoon of the 25th. ”

The next day, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau confirmed this news, saying that the above-mentioned personnel had been taken criminal compulsory measures in accordance with the law because they were suspected of extortion crimes, and the case was being further tried.

Just a few lines of news show that the public security organs' investigation into 21st Century.com's suspected serious economic crimes has been expanded to its parent company, 21st Century Media Co., Ltd. In particular, Shen Hao, the president of the company and who wrote classic sentences such as "There is always a power to make us cry" and "Even if the news dies, it will leave countless saints" and other classic sentences, shen Hao, was investigated for his case, which made many people sigh and sigh, and also triggered more speculation and questions.

To this end, the Xinhua reporter went to Shanghai again to learn more about the case from the special case team and interviewed some criminal suspects face to face. Through their own accounts and the introduction of the police handling the case, more cases have been revealed one by one.

There are already more than 200 "cooperative" enterprises involved in three media

Overnight, from the helmsman of the 21st century newspaper department to a criminal suspect, Shen Hao, who was imprisoned, appeared unexpectedly calm. He also seems to be well aware of the reasons for his investigation.

"I know that the public security organs' investigation and punishment of 21st Century Business Herald and 21st Century Network this time is mainly in two aspects, one is to force enterprises to pay cooperation fees through negative news, and the other is to collect 'protection fees' from enterprises and promise not to report them negatively." Shen Hao said.

According to the police handling the case, as of now, the case has involved 3 financial media under 21st Century Media Co., Ltd., 21st Century Business Herald, 21st Century Network, and Financial Weekly, and more than 30 relevant personnel have been investigated. In addition to Shen Hao and Chen Dongyang, it also includes Liu Hui, editor-in-chief of 21st Century Business Herald, Liu Dong, president of 21st Century.com, Zhou Bin, editor-in-chief, Mo Baoquan, deputy general manager of the advertising department, Xia Ri, publisher of wealth management weekly, Luo Guanghui, editor-in-chief, and Mei Bo, general manager.

The evidence of the infringed companies and the confessions of the persons involved in the case show that 21st Century Business Herald, 21st Century Net, and Wealth Management Weekly have used their extensive influence in the financial and economic circles to collude with public relations companies such as Shanghai Runyan and Shenzhen Xin qilin to instruct their subordinate media reporters to actively excavate and compile negative information about listed companies and listed companies through various channels, and to use the threat of publishing negative reports to force more than 200 companies, such as more than 200 companies, to sign "cooperation" agreements with them and collect high "advertising fees."

Shanghai New Culture Media is one of the enterprises that have "cooperated" with 21st Century Network and Wealth Management Weekly. Speaking of the situation at that time, Yu Mou, the company's supervisor, still feels "very unhappy".

"In February 2012, our company is about to go public. Zhang Moumou of Shanghai Runyan Company found our company according to the contact information we posted on the Internet. Yu recalled. Zhang Moumou introduced the service projects of Runyan Company and put an advertising cooperation agreement in front of him.

"There are a number of quotations on the agreement, including financial media such as 21st Century Network and Financial Weekly, but the price is ridiculously high, and it costs hundreds of thousands of yuan to publish an article or advertisement." Yu planned to lower the price, but did not expect that the other party did not plan to negotiate the price, but directly showdown.

"At that time, I was more impressed that Zhang Moumou gave me an example that some companies were negatively reported by the media because they did not sign a cooperation agreement with Runyan Company, resulting in the inability to be listed or the stock price fluctuating, and paid a tragic price." Yu said that due to the critical period of listing, he was afraid of having an impact on the listing, so he could only agree to sign a cooperation agreement with Runyan.

"This kind of blackmail is very covert." Yu told reporters, "Some of the media is directly signed with our company, and the other part of the media is the packaging service agreement signed with Runyan Company, and the total amount of money spent on Runyan Company and its requirements for cooperative media is millions of yuan." ”

Only after "cooperation" can there be no trouble. However, there are also a very small number of enterprises that still refuse to comply under threats and inducements, such as Nongfu Spring.

"On March 14, 2013, 21st Century.com issued the first negative report against Nongfu Spring, and we subsequently made a public clarification." Zhou Li, secretary of the board of directors of Nongfu Shanquan, introduced, "We did not go (with 21st Century Network) to do some private communication or how, because the board of directors believed that this report was untrue, we did not do anything wrong, we did not need to bow our heads or give in." ”

Zhou Li did not expect that the lack of "private communication" would lead to more fierce "artillery fire". In the following 3 months, 21st Century Network made a total of 19 negative reports on the water source and quality standards of Nongfu Spring.

Liu Dong, president of 21st Century Network, confirmed this report and admitted that "the scale and intensity of such reports are rare."

"After the negative reports came out, Shen Hao led the team to visit our company and offered to cooperate with us and make positive reports, but was rejected by our chairman. They didn't look for us again. Zhou Li said.

The cost of "not bowing your head" is quite heavy. Zhou Li introduced that because of these false negative reports, Nongfu Spring has suffered a lot of doubts, sales have been greatly affected, and it is estimated that the loss of profits has reached hundreds of millions of yuan.

"In fact, our company and 21st Century Business Herald have always had advertising cooperation, about 500,000 yuan per year." Zhou Li said that later the advertisers of the 21st Century Network privately revealed the "secret" - "Didn't you cooperate with the 21st Century Business Herald before?" If you also spend half the money of the newspaper to the 21st Century Network, then this matter will be solved."

High-pressure assessment + direct interrogation Disguised as "encouraging" extortion of money from enterprises

According to the police handling the case, whether it is the 21st Century Economic Herald, the 21st Century Network, or the Financial Weekly, there are basically the same illegal profit-making models. These three sub-media that seem to operate independently are actually interactive and inseparable.

"Under the general framework formulated by 21st Century Media Co., Ltd., newspaper and weekly reporters with editorial rights are responsible for collecting and writing articles, and the website is responsible for deleting posts and operating matters, and then matchmaking financial public relations companies, which finally forms a pattern in which these three financial media and financial public relations companies such as Runyan and Xin Qilin join hands to grab food." The police handling the case said.

It is worth noting that in the mobile phones of many executives of 21st Century Media Company, the police found a large number of text messages such as "so-and-so company (reported) does not go online".

"Every text message can mean a hefty PR bill." Minjin told reporters that companies that were negatively reported would take the initiative to come to the door or communicate through public relations companies. Kelun Pharmaceutical, Yiteng Pharmaceutical, Yanghe Shares, Minsheng Leasing and other companies have found Shen Hao himself because of negative reports.

Shen Hao acknowledged this. He took the 21st Century Network as an example, "No matter who you find, you will be introduced to Mo Baoquan to negotiate advertising cooperation with enterprises, and sign relevant contracts and collect cooperation fees." I know that some companies will sign cooperation agreements because of this. ”

According to this model, the financial media under 21st Century Media Co., Ltd. and the financial public relations company "cooperated" to extort enterprises and obtain huge profits. In order to maximize the interests, the management of 21st Century Media has set surprising business goals for its media.

"In 2010, the 21st Century Network was revised, and it was the IPO that restarted that year, and the IPO companies paid great attention to their own reputation. When I saw this opportunity, I told Liu Dong, Zhou Bin, Mo Baoquan and others of 21st Century Network that I wanted them to strengthen cooperation with enterprises, especially those IPO companies that attach great importance to their reputation. Shen Hao said.

Liu Dong confessed that since 2011, the company's leaders have entrusted the business of "listed companies" to 21st Century Network; at the same time, they have issued revenue business assessment indicators, "which is 80 or 90 million yuan per year, and the completion of the situation is directly linked to the personal income of me and my team."

In 2012, Liu Dong did not get a full annual salary of 800,000 yuan due to the failure to complete the assessment indicators; in 2013, the completion situation was still not ideal. At the meeting in early 2014, Shen Hao released harsh words to Liu Dong, Zhou Bin, Mo Baoquan and others, "I can't change people if I can't finish."

"I also asked them to work with more than 70 percent of the total number of IPO companies that year." Shen Hao confessed, "If you follow the legal way of doing business, it is impossible to reach such a high level." I set such a high percentage, in fact, I use the tool of assessment indicators to encourage and even force them to use negative reports and 'paid unheard' methods to pull cooperative customers. ”

For the financial weekly report, Shen Hao also formulated similar assessment indicators, requiring them to use negative reports to force enterprises to "cooperate". Once an enterprise finds Shen Hao because of the negative report published in the financial weekly newspaper, he will introduce the enterprise to the relevant person in charge, and the two sides will negotiate cooperation matters.

"Enterprises that have signed an agreement, if they find me because of the negative reports of 21st Century Network, I will instruct Liu Dong or Zhou Bin to delete the negative reports and fulfill the 'protection' of customers." Shen Hao said.

Compared with online deletion, the process of fulfilling "protection" for 21st Century Business Herald and Financial Weekly is slightly more complicated.

Liu Hui, editor-in-chief of the 21st Century Business Herald, confessed that for those that have been reported in the newspaper, Shen Hao gave Liu Dong instructions to delete the corresponding reports on the website; for those who have not yet reported in the newspaper, but have entered the selection of topics or edited articles, Shen Hao will greet the leaders in charge or duty leaders of the corresponding sections to withdraw the article.

"The 21st Century Business Herald once reported a negative news about the State Grid, and the State Grid went to Shen Hao." Liu Hui said that after Shen Hao made it clear at an editorial board meeting that the State Grid intends to invest in the 21st Century Network, so that the State Grid is a partner and will not carry out negative reports in the future.

Another negative report involved companies were Ping An Group and Shanghai Jahwa. Shen Hao was very angry and called the editorial board in charge to criticize them, which meant that Ping An Group and Shanghai Jahwa were both cooperative customers of the newspaper, how could they report their negative news. Liu Hui confessed.

At the same time, Liu Hui also showed the inner entanglement. "This is a kind of use of media influence to make enterprises pay fees in the form of advertising, in fact, I do not approve, I have repeatedly raised it on the editorial board, but Shen Hao does not attach importance to my views." Shen Hao also demanded that if the advertising department wants to let the editorial department meet with the enterprise, the editorial department should cooperate to give the customer a confirmation in his heart, which is conducive to the advertising department to talk about the customer's advertising business. ”

Breaking promises to "tear" ideals "I hope my tragedy will wake up my media peers"

According to the police handling the case, this case involves unit crimes and individual crimes, and may be suspected of crimes such as forced trading, extortion, and commercial bribery. All indications show that the leadership of 21st Century Media Co., Ltd. is clear about the nature and consequences of the various acts of its media.

According to Liu Dong's confession, in early 2014, after a well-known website in Beijing was investigated and punished for news extortion, Liu Dong, president of 21st Century.com, Zhou Bin, editor-in-chief, and others were more worried, and held a special meeting to study and ask Shen Hao for instructions on whether the similar business behavior of 21st Century.com should be suspended. Shen Hao instructed, "Don't be afraid, keep doing, and complete the target."

"In fact, I have long known that this kind of news extortion is suspected of economic crimes. But this model is no secret in media circles, it is a common behavior. Shen Hao admitted. He said that for the sake of the company's survival and profitability, he still fell deeper and deeper on this illegal profit-making road.

Wang Zhuoming, a criminal suspect and 21st Century Business Herald reporter, used the phrase "water covered and difficult to harvest" to describe the current situation. "A company will give you 300,000, 500,000, how many 100 listed companies can there be?" The money comes too easily, and you don't have to do anything, it's best not to report. It's like taking drugs, you can't quit smoking, it will only get more and more serious. ”

In the past few days, Shen Hao has carried out profound reflection and expressed self-blame and remorse many times. "I played a leading, supporting, coordinating, participating role in these news blackmails. I have a lot of responsibility. ”

After Shen Hao's case was investigated, some netizens said, "Shen Hao has a saying that is good, 'Nothing can easily impress people.'" In addition to the real. But the problem is that he's encouraging others to be truthful, and he can't do it himself. ”

More netizens asked why these news pilgrims who once "sought justice, love and conscience" have now fallen into the quagmire of breaking the law and committing crimes?

"When I was a student, my ideal was to engage in journalism, and when I dreamed of entering the southern newspaper industry, under the guidance of many predecessors, I have always adhered to a journalistic value of justice, love and conscience, and only under the guidance of such a value can I serve the public interest." For a long time, I persevered well. Shen Hao said.

Turning over Shen Hao's resume, perhaps what he said was not false. Shen Hao, born in March 1971 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province; from 1988 to 1992, he studied in the Department of Chinese of Peking University, and after graduation, he entered the "Southern Weekend" and successively served as the director of the information department and the editorial board; in 1999, he wrote the widely circulated New Year's dedication "There is always a power that makes us cry".

The talent shown in the work has won Shen Hao more promotion opportunities. In January 1999, he became the director of the first editorial office of Nanfang Daily Publishing House, and later the executive editor of City Pictorial, in October 2000, he became the editor-in-chief of 21st Century Business Herald, since 2003, he has been the publisher of 21st Century Economic Newspaper, in 2008, he was the president of 21st Century Media Co., Ltd., and later the secretary of the Party Committee of 21st Century Newspaper.

"At a time when my job responsibilities changed, I was not only a media person, but also a media manager. At the operational level, I did violate the basic concepts at the level of journalistic ethics. Shen Hao's words revealed more remorse.

"Although our internal rules and regulations strictly prohibit such things, and we usually say it repeatedly, in the daily implementation process, I am acquiescing, and to some extent, it has played a role in fueling the waves." Sometimes, I even feel that this temporary solution is also a way for our media to get out of the current predicament, so I will make these demands on them. Shen Hao said.

"When some brother media have accidents because of this kind of thing, they still turn a deaf ear and do not seize the opportunity to deal with it... Now, what shouldn't have happened has happened. ”

"So, I feel like this change makes me feel torn; so, I feel like I'm breaking my promise to journalism; so, I feel very sorry." Shen Hao expressed his inner feelings at this time and regarded the incident as "a tragedy".

"Whether it is the tragedy of the 21st century or my personal tragedy, I hope that the media peers with similar phenomena can wake up and adhere to positive journalistic values; at the same time, I also hope that China's media industry will undergo a major change, which can completely eliminate some disgraceful, illegal and illegal things in the media industry chain, and make China's media industry develop more healthily." Shen Hao said.