Bloody violent job

• Source: Global Times
• [22:43 December 01 2009]
• Comments

Zhou Licai's 50,000-yuan video camera lies on the ground with the brick that smashed it. The Hunan Province-based Loudi TV station reporter was attacked by construction workers on October 27, 2006 when he tried to report on building material safety standards.

By In Depth special report team

Le Qian was waiting for the elevator in her apartment building when a man knocked her to the ground, repeatedly hitting her in the face with a brick.

"The person kept saying 'That's for your report! That's for your report!' as he beat me," Le, deputy editor-in-chief of the Hebei Youth Daily, in the capital city of Shijiazhuang, told reporters from her own paper.

The unknown assailant escaped after a neighbor who overheard the battering approached the scene, only to find Le lying in a pool of her own blood and shopping produce at 8:20 pm on November 21.

Le was taken to hospital where she was treated for thick wounds on her lips and bruises on her left cheek. The case was handed to local police and no further details have since been disclosed.

"The case hasn't been solved, we don't know whether it was revenge on the journalist and her report or a violent attack for other reasons," said Zhou Ze, a Beijing lawyer who specializes in journalism cases.

Hospital goon squad

Le's case marks the 20th assault on a Chinese mainland journalist this year according to incomplete statistics released by Zhou, and also the second journalist assault case in November.

The first on 4pm, November 17, involved three journalists from Kunming TV station, the only station in the capital city of Yunnan Province. They were trying to investigate illegal abortions at a private hospital.

"The moment we stepped inside the building and displayed them our identity cards, we were promptly besieged, pushed and shoved by medical staff at the hospital," producer Hu Nan told the Global Times.

"They violently grabbed our cameras and microphones and tried to separate us into different rooms," she said.

"And during the process, my hands got hurt and became swollen."

Hu and her colleagues were forced into two rooms where they were kept for more than 40 minutes until one of their accompanying lawyers escaped and got the local police to rescue them.

"I heard a fight in the other room," Hu said, "They tried to grab my colleagues' camera and shouted at him."

Hu alleged her colleague was "traumatized" after being beaten on the back. Microphone cables were cut and the camera lens cracked.