China sentences reporter who faked cardboard buns story to 1 year in jail

BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese court sentenced a reporter to a year in jail for faking a television story about cardboard-filled meat buns, state media said, in a case that drew widespread attention to the country's poor food safety record. Zi Beijia, 28, pleaded guilty to charges of infringing on the reputation of a commodity during his trial Sunday at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of 1,000 yuan (US$132; C97), it said.

Zi's buns story, reportedly shot with a hidden camera, briefly came to symbolize China's food safety woes that have alarmed people at home and hammered the country's reputation as a food and drug exporter.

The video report appeared to show a makeshift kitchen where people made steamed buns stuffed with cardboard softened with caustic soda plus a little bit of fatty pork.

The Beijing court heard that Zi paid four migrant workers from China's northern Shaanxi province to prepare the buns according to his instructions, Xinhua said in a report late Sunday. The buns were then fed to dogs, it said.

The story was first broadcast on Beijing Television's Life Channel on July 8 and then again on China Central Television. It was also widely seen on YouTube.com.

The court heard that Zi edited the footage at home and hid the truth from Beijing Television, where he was working as a freelance reporter. Xinhua said he fabricated the story to advance his career.

The report prompted Beijing's health authorities to carry out spot checks of more than two dozen vendors selling pork buns - a common breakfast food in China. None was found to be using cardboard.

Meanwhile, the four migrant workers enlisted by Zi - Wei Quanfeng, Zhao Xiaoyan, Zhao Jiangbo and Yang Chunling - filed a lawsuit against Beijing Television, claiming defamation, Xinhua reported separately.

"The Beijing TV station's failure to review the story carefully led to the fake bun scandal, which also damaged the reputations of Wei Quanfeng and three other migrant workers," their lawyer Zhang Shilei of Beijing's Jingzhe Law Firm was quoted as saying.

It did not say how much compensation they are seeking or give other details.

© The Canadian Press, 2007