China’s anti-corruption watchdog has taken on People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the ruling party, accusing it of taking bribes to bury news…

China’s anti-corruption watchdog has taken on People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the ruling party, accusing it of taking bribes to bury news and using the threat of exposure to blackmail

China is well into the second year of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign under President Xi Jinping, whose purge of rival political factions has been accompanied by the detention of prominent journalists, lawyers and civil rights campaigners

“Some domestic bureaux used the party’s resources to get profits by setting up co-operation deals. Some subsidiaries had instances of payment for news, payment not to publish and blackmail,” the watchdog said in its report on the People’s Daily, issued over the weekend

The accusations contrast with the fate of journalists who brave the wrath of powerful interests. Earlier this month the Chinese security apparatus detained a journalist at the respected Southern Metropolis Daily, apparently because of his reports on a well-connected qigong master, even though the master himself is already under investigation for murder

“This special inspection must be a turning point for the People’s Daily,” said Yang Zhengwu, editor-in-chief, according to the watchdog’s report, adding that the paper would take steps to improve management and strengthen political consciousness

Corruption cases are usually covered by Chinese media only after the party has decided to move. That means keeping a lid on detailed accounts of corruption uncovered independently by journalists, said Ivy Zhang, professor of journalism studies at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo. “They don’t want the media to go ahead of them. They don’t want to be caught off guard,” she said

State-run media rarely airs accusations against top-ranked officials in the provinces or ministries, although confidential reports on wrongdoing might be written in internal party publications. That creates the incentive for bribery or blackmail to block those reports

“They will publish internal reports, which will go to the most important authorities, but they won’t let society and the public know. We believe that making the public aware of these issues is the best way for you to have an impact,” said Liu Hu, an investigative journalist who spent a year in detention after reporting on the purchase by conglomerate China Resourcesof mines at inflated prices. He was freed on bail in August 2014, several months after China Resources’ head Song Linwas detained on corruption charges

Chinese journalists who break ranks can face charges that vary from extortion to defamation to “illegal publishing”, if they threaten powerful interests or get swept up in factional fighting

“The Central Committee for Discipline Inspection and the police can investigate corruption, the people don’t have the right,” said one former journalist who has served time in jail

The risks of bucking the system were evident when a small group of mourners gathered in Beijing on Friday to bury Qi Li, a former journalist with Human Habitation, a construction industry magazine under the state-owned Xinhua news agency

Ms Qi and a fellow Xinhua journalist spent three years in jail after attempting to blow the whistle on lucrative land sales abetted by Xinhua’s branch in Shandong province a decade ago. Ms Qi won a partial exoneration from the Shandong courts but died of cancer without regaining her status or health benefits as a Xinhua employee