The Ruzhou Coal Mine Disasters
A coal mine in Ruzhou (China) was flooded and a number of workers were trapped. No, this is not that other story in Guangdong which was broadly covered, including exposés about the people behind the mine. Chances are that you have never heard of the Ruzhou coal mine disaster, for reasons that this post will explain in heartbreaking detail.
I have preserved a copy of the Chinese original below, because it will most likely be deleted. The original Henan Commercial News article was published in Sina.com and has been deleted; my working copy was found at Xici Hutong BBS (and also summarized in Ta Kung Pao). I am grateful to this reporter for publishing that which he/she observed, when there was an obvious easier and more profitable option.
On August 15, an informed source told this newspaper that "a reporter named Yang" from our newspaper received 500 RMB to "keep his mouth shut" from the coal mine owners during the course of covering the Ruzhou mine disaster. Our newspaper reporter went to Ruzhou twice to cover that story within a story, and the results were shocking ...
The informed source told us that many "media reporters" including someone who claimed to be from our newspaper went to Ruzhou to collect their "wages." On July 31, a certain coal mine in Ruzhou was flooded by water. Many of the workers were able to escape, but there were some casualties.
After the incident occurred, the coal mine owner vanished. This incident was covered up. On August 13, the news was spread by an informed source to the provincial media, and that information was distributed around via SMS messages. More than 500 people must have received the news of the coal mine disaster.
On the afternoon of August 14, the "reporters" began to arrive at Ruzhou. The various hotels and guest houses in Ruzhou were full of people who have come to collect their "wages." According to a guest house worker, the guest house always hoped that something might happen at the coal mines. When asked why, the worker who asked to remain nameless said that large numbers of "reporters" will come and they have to live somewhere. They don't have a lot of customers normally, so this was a good thing for business at the guest houses.
On August 15, our reporter went to the local government news department. At the time, the reporter saw three reporters who claimed to have come from the Three Peasants Magazine and they were negotiating with Director Yang of the Ruzhou City Government and another worker. Director Yang asked our reporter to wait and then continued the negotiations. Here is what they said:
Director Yang: Since you are here, what can we say? But the money has already been given out to the first comers.
Media: You watch what happens. It is not easy for us to come here. We have to drive here, and that is expensive enough.
Director Yang: We are friends. We cannot say that we don't welcome you, but we have to follow the regulations.
Media: We know that. This is not our first time here, and this is not the first time that you have an incident here.
Director Yang: It is good that you know. You are from Three Peasants, and there has been already more than a dozen of you here today. How do you explain that? As I said before, since you are here, we can't let you leave empty-handed. How about this? One hundred RMB per person.
Media: Then you are treating us with contempt. We are old enough already and we are tall enough. We can't just take one hundred 100 RMB.
Director Yang: Let me take better care of you. How about 300 RMB per person?
Media: No way.
At this point, Director Yang seemed to be embarrassed to be doing this in front of our reporter. He asked our reporter to wait for him in another room, and that he will be with our reporter as soon as this matter is taken care of.
Ten minutes later, our reporter was asked to return to meet Director Yang. He said, "You came late. Like those who just came and left, we won't let you leave empty-handed." After the reporter signed a receipt, 1,000 RMB was handed over (note: the reporter turned the money in to the newspaper after returning). Director Yang said, "Too many people came here. Yesterday, I took out 200,000 RMB and you just got all that was left." The reporter said that he cannot believe that 200,000 RMB could be given out in one morning, so Director Yang explained in detail about the scene when the "wages" were distributed.
According to Director Yang, there were far too many people looking for their "wages." There were many people in the courtyard of the building. There were more than 60 vehicles with "press" signs in the parking lot. The corridor in the reception hall was full of people. Under these circumstances, they had to rent a large conference room on the second floor. Director Yang said that the conference room was packed, and their workers had to hold batons to beat those who were pushing forward back into line.
According to Director Yang, the media were sorted into classes: those who claimed to come from big central media received 500 to 1,000 RMB; those who claimed to be from various big provincial media got 200 to 500 RMB; and all those city-level media got 200 media; those who are reporting out of their specialties (editor's note: for example, an information technology news reporter should not be covering a mining disaster) or regions received 100 RMB.
During this distribution, there were 480 people from more than 100 media and they received 200,000 RMB. Director Yang said that Ruzhou was just too poor and so they paid out much less than at the mining incidents at the cities of Dengfeng and Xinmi.
When our reporter demanded to see the record of receipt for the so-called reporter named Yang from our newspaper, the request was declined. After persisting, Director Yang finally agreed. Our reporter went with a worker to the first floor of the building, whence the worker produced a stack of papers. Those 20 pages contained the names of reporters from Xinhua, as well as many who claimed to be from central media and posted in Henan province, provincial media, city media, medical news magazines and so on. There were more than 100 media.
Director Yang said that the 200,000 RMB is a loan from the agricultural credit union taken by the town government. As to why it was necessary to borrow money to give to 'reporters', that was because a certain city government leader managed this particular coal mine ...
On August 17, the informed source told our newspaper that the "reporter named Yang" had appeared in Ruzhou to collect his "wages" once again. What was the reason this time?
According to the informed source, another mine in Ruzhou was flooded on August 3 and one person died. After the incident, the government tried to cover up once more. But just like the July 31 case, the information about the mining disaster was sent out by a source and distributed via SMS messages.
On the afternoon of August 17, large numbers of "media reporters" went to Ruzhou again.
At 2pm August 18, our reporter was in Ruzhou again. According to the source, the "wages" will be distributed at the Heavenly Swan Hotel.
In the parking lot of the Heavenly Swan Hotel, there were many cars with "press" signs. Inside the lobby, there were all sorts of people waiting to receive "wages." Then a veteran female "reporter" who just got her money on the sixth floor yelled out, "Go up there quickly to get your money, or else you may miss out."
The reporter went up to the sixth floor and got on the queue to wait for his turn. Periodically, people came out of the conference room and one of those people said aloud, "It is the same as before. 200 RMB. Don't worry. Everyone will get theirs."
A young female reporter who claimed to be from Information Today was standing next to our reporter and said, "I am crossing specialties, so I'll probably only get 100 RMB."
Twenty minutes later, there was some commotion ahead. The conference room door opened, and a worker yelled, "Come on in. Don't push." Our reporter entered along with the others.
It was a large conference room. There was a podium where an official was sitting. The official asked the people to quiet down and then he said, "Earlier, a certain individual from Information Today had gotten on line twice and gotten money twice. I found out and I have confiscated her identification. If any one of you have already received your money, I ask you to leave. Some of you are not pleased and there are even some who want to cause me trouble. Think about it --Do I care? Besides, I am trying to do something good on your behalf. When you come here, you snoop around and you disrupt what we are doing here. The mine has asked us to look after you. In consideration of the fact that we have a good relationship with the mine, we got them to send some money over. Yesterday, when some people got here, they called me to meet with them. Why should I meet with you? You expect me to arrange for accommodations and meals. Why should I arrange accommodations and meals for you? You are the ones who came here to expose the matter. I did not invite you. Besides, how many of you here are actual reporters? The Central Propaganda Department and the Provincial Party Propaganda Department have issued orders to forbid you from reporting this. I have just distributed money to more than 100 people. After you people get your money, you will not call the mine after this. This matter is closed as of now."
After the lecture, there was an orderly distribution of "wages." Three people would approach the podium at a time and get registered. Then one worker would give them their money: people who are crossing areas receive 100 RMB and general media 200 RMB. After receiving the money, they leave.
The young female reporter sitting next to our reporter took out an empty form, filled it out and went up to the podium. The reporter saw her receive 200 RMB.
Another male "reporter" was challenged on the authenticity of his documents. The worker yelled, "Why is the media from Luoyang here?" And then this reporter from a certain newspaper in Luoyang was told to sit aside.
At 3pm, a male "reporter" got up to the podium and the worker asked the "reporter" for his papers. The reporter laughed and said, "I don't have to show any papers. My face is proof enough." Under the arbitration of the official, the man received 100 RMB. But the man refused to leave. Since there were so few people left by now, they gave him another RMB and then he left.
After everybody has left, the Ruzhou official told our reporter that more than 300 people have received more than 100,000 RMB since this morning. He said that fewer than one-third of them were real reporters. In spite of his, they cannot afford to cross the 'fake' reporters. Why is that? He said that 'fake' reporters are connected to real ones; just because the 'fake' reporters cannot publish anything, there is nothing to stop them from giving it to a real reporter and that would be a headache.
As for the mining disaster itself, the official claims to be quite unclear. The reporter said, "Aren't you concerned about getting into trouble by giving money out this way?" The official said, "We hate these 'fake' reporters, but what can be done about them?"
Our newspaper verified that the person named Yang Rong who came to collect money twice under the name of Henan Commercial News is not a reporter or worker for our newspaper.
Postscript: ChineseNewsNet.
On September 17, 2005, Henan Commercial Press was suspended one month by the Central Propaganda Department and the General Administration of Press and Publication. This is an unprecedented action in this history of journalism in Henan.
The action was taken as a result of an investigation by the central government about the Ruzhou mining disaster reports. The investigating reporters did not have the original list of recepients, he did not have tape recordings and he did not have photographs. The mining authorities completely deny the allegations. Thus, there was no proof.
Consequently, the reporter and the editor-on-duty have been suspended, and the newspaper has been suspended for one month for "inaccurate reporting."
(Nanfang Daily) August 23, 2005.
[translation] Although I have been in the news media for many years and I have seen all sorts of scandalous behavior among bad reporters, that report in the Henan Commercial Daily still left me flabbergasted: there were two mining disasters in Ruzhou (Henan), the reporters sent each other SMS messages and they rushed to the scene not to gather the news but to get into line to get paid for keeping their mouths shut. The local officials distribute the money in person, with a rate card based upon the class of the media (although that is negotiable). In one day, 480 people (including both real and fake reporters) took away 200,000 RMB.
As long as the reporters don't report it, the local officials can cover up the disasters and work with the mine owners to neglect the loss of human lives. This shows how important the news media could be. If the reporters won't report it when the local officials give them money, then this shows how frail and hypocritical the news media are. When the important factor is frail and hypocritical, it is a serious problem. I was flabbergasted because the problem is serious to the point of hopelessness.
These reporters had no professional ethics, never mind human conscience. But I am more curious about whether all the several hundred reporters were like that? Could it be that God choose only fallen souls to become reporters in China?
Thinking about it deeper, you will realize that these reporters lack professional honor. I believe that this was not how it started, especially since reporters can vigorously derive professional honor. When they first started, they have respect, pride and yearning and they imagine that they will become a famous reporter who will expose the truth and defend justice. But very quickly they find that in many places, the genuinely monitoring articles are not published -- in some places, it is even required that the subject of the monitoring must sign off on the articles. Dear readers, think about this -- will those local officials and mine owners who are willing to pay 200,000 to 300,000 RMB for shutting up sign a release got a negative report? But those shameless articles of praise were easy to write and those cowardly reports can be embellished. Slowly, the reporters lose their zeal and direction, they lose any sense of honor and they become just bums.
There are some idealistic reporters who follow their conscience and won't accept money, and they wrote reports in accordance with their professional ethics. But they are often defeated -- even if the reporters cannot be bought off, there is no guarantee that their editors were not bought off; even if the editors were not bought off, there is no guarantee that their directors were not bought off. At the newspaper that I worked in, the following incident occur: a reporter refused a bribe and exposed the lies by a company, but the company spent several hundred thousand RMB in advertising expenditure with the newspaper. But the newspaper was clean, so the company went and took care of someone even higher up and the story was killed with one phone call. The newspaper and the reporter exclaimed: "If we knew that this was going to happen any way, we should have taken the money!"
From the viewpoint of a "rational economic person," if a reporter turns down a bribe, he can get a professional reputation which leads to a higher income; if a newspaper can be clean, the objectivity and fairness should increase circulation, which should bring in more advertisements. Such being the case, why would the reporter and the newspaper accept bribes, which would work against their long-term economic interests? If they can't do that, then why shouldn't they at least grab the bribes? That is why very few stubborn idealists are left.
I have previously written about the case of the four Xinhua reporters covering the Shaanxi mining disaster versus the Jayson Blair case at the New York Times. The four reporters "seriously violated news reporting ethics and damaged the reputation of Xinhua" and they were severely dealt with. At the New York Times, the executive editor and the managing editor resigned; Jayson Blair was fired by the newspaper, but there are still magazine articles and book deals for him. That was a big joke about modern commercialized society to our media, but there is something serious behind it. That is: people were more interested in the flaws in the editorial system at the newspaper than in the lost soul of an individual. But in China, some people would attribute good things to the superiority of the system and bad things to individual lost souls.
I do not intend to defend the lost souls. No matter what the reason is, shameful acts are shameful and ought to be punished. I want to pay my respect to the reporter who investigated this matter, for it requires great courage to expose the scandals among one's peers.
河南汝州煤矿事故调查：真假记者大发矿难财
8月15日，知情者向本报反映，本报一“杨姓记者”在采访汝州一起煤矿事故中，收取出事煤矿的“封口费”500元。为查明真相，本报记者先后两次赶到汝州市进行采访，结果却令人大吃一惊……
知情者向本报透露，引发包括自称本报记者在内的众多“媒体记者”前往汝州“领工资”源于一场 矿难。7月31日，汝州市寄料镇一煤矿突发透水事故，正在井下作业的多名工人得以逃生，但还是有人员伤亡。
事故发生后，矿主不见了踪影，此事被当地隐瞒。8月13日，汝州市寄料镇发生矿难的消息被知情人透露给省内多家媒体，而后这一信息又通过手机短信广泛传播开来。此间接到手机信息的媒体记者称传告消息者为“奔走相告委员会”。
知情者称，接到这一矿难信息者多达500多人。
8月14日下午，得知这一信息的“记者”陆续来到汝州市。汝州市各大宾馆、饭店、小旅社都住满了闻讯而来的“领工资”人群。当地一家宾馆的工作人员事后对来此采访的记者称，宾馆就盼着市里的煤矿出点事，问及原因，这位不愿透露姓名的工作人员笑称，煤矿一出事故，大批的“记者”就要来，来了就要登记住宿，这对平时客源少、生意不好的宾馆来说无疑是一件好事。
8月15日，本报记者来到当地新闻主管部门，接着在汝州大厦宾馆208房间，记者正好遇上三位自称省内“三农杂志”的记者同行，他们在这里正与汝州市寄料镇政府企业委的杨主任和镇工业办的一位工作人员进行着讨价还价。杨主任让刚来的记者先等一下，接着他们继续开始讨价还价。下面是他们之间的一段对话：
杨主任：你们既然来了，我们也不好说啥，但是钱真的让先来的人领走了。
媒体：你们看着办，反正我们来一次也不容易，又开着车，就车这一项花费就不少。
杨主任：来的都是朋友，我们也不能说不欢迎，但要按规矩办事。
媒体：这我们都知道，也不是第一次来，你们也不是第一次出事。
杨主任：既然知道就好，你们既然是“三农”的人，今天就来了十几个，你们自己说咋办？我刚才说了，既然来了也不能让你们空着手走，这样吧，每人100元。
媒体：你们是不是看不起我们，我们都这么大的年龄了，还有这么高的个子，朝这儿一站也不能只给100元。
杨主任：要不照顾你们一下，每人300元咋样？
媒体：不行。
当着本报记者的面这样搞价杨主任似乎有点不好意思，他停下对话，转而对本报记者说，你们先去201房间吧，在那里稍等一会儿，我们这边谈好之后，咱们接着来。
10分钟后，寄料镇工业办的工作人员让记者到208房去。杨主任说(以下内容根据录音整理)，你们也来晚了，但是同上一拨人一样，也不会让你们白跑一次。记者签名后，领到了1000元钱(记者回到单位后将此款上缴)。杨主任称，来的人太多了，昨天我分次拿来了20万元，今天给你们发的是余下的钱。记者表示不相信一个上午会发去20万元，杨主任向记者详细地叙述了发生于8月14日集体发“工资”的现场。
杨主任称，发放“工资”时由于人太多，很多人站在汝州大厦的院子里，停车场停着60多辆挂着“新闻采访”的车辆，在二楼客房的走廊里也挤满了人。在此情况之下，只好临时租用了大厦二楼一个最大的会议室。杨主任称，一个大会议室被挤得满满的，为维护秩序，寄料镇企业办、工业办的工作人员每个人手拿小棍，对那些不排队往前挤的人进行敲打。
据杨主任称，各个媒体分级别发钱：1.凡是自称来自中央级大媒体的每人500～1000元，2.凡是自称来自省内各大媒体的标准是200～500元；3.其他市级媒体200元；跨行业、跨地区媒体每人100元。
在此次的发放中，共有100多家媒体、480人领走了20万元，杨称，汝州市太穷，在煤矿事故中这是最少的，与登封、新密二市的煤矿事故发红包相比，是小儿科。
当记者提出看一看本报“杨姓记者”的领钱登记时，被对方拒绝，经过记者的再三恳求，杨主任同意了。记者与工业办的工作人员来到大厦一楼，工作人员从一辆面包车里拿出一沓稿纸，此时这个神秘的工资表终于浮出了水面。白色稿纸写满了20张，除没有新华社记者之外，签名人员涉及到很多自称来自驻豫中央级媒体，加上省级、市级、医疗报纸杂志等，多达100多家省内外媒体。
杨主任称，20万现金是乡政府从农村信用社贷款，至于为何要贷款给“记者”发“工资”的原因，是因为市里有位领导对口管理这家煤矿……
昨天，知情者又向本报透露，本报“杨姓记者”再次到汝州领“工资”，这一次领工资的原因是什么呢？
据知情者讲，8月3日，汝州市小屯镇五．二煤矿发生透水事故，据称一人在此次矿难中死亡。矿难发生后，当地政府再次采取瞒报手段。但是，与7月31日寄料矿难一样，矿难还是被新闻线人获知并通知了媒体。媒体又通过手机信息传播开来。
知情者说，8月17日下午，大批的“媒体记者”再次云集汝州。
8月18日14时，记者再次来到汝州，知情者此间透露，此次“工资”发放地安排在汝州市的天鹅宾馆。
天鹅宾饭大门的停车场上，停满了挂着各式“新闻采访”的车辆，数十人停留在宾馆的大门口，进入大厅后，一楼的沙发上坐满了等待领钱的人。一位刚从6楼领了“工资”的女“记者”对刚进来的人大声说，“快上去领吧，不然的话就接不上趟了。”
乘电梯来到宾馆6楼，走廊里站满了等候的人群，在排队等候期间，不时地从南边的一个会议室里走出一些刚领过工资的人。一个人从里面挤出来，边走边说，“还是老样子，200元，别急，都有份”。
与记者相挨着的是自称今日信息报的一个记者，这位长相清秀的小女孩说，“我是跨行业领钱，可能只有100块钱。”
20分钟后，前面出现了松动，会议室的大门开了，一位工作人员站在门口大喊，“都进来，别挤。”记者随着人群走进了会议室。
这是一个大的会议室，会议室南门入口处是一个主席台子，台子上并排摆着两张桌子，在台上就坐的据说是汝州市委的一位官员。经该官员介绍得知，与之同在台上的是小屯镇企业办白主任。
这位工作人员让大家静下来，然后说，“刚才今日信息报的某某人，排了两次队，领了两次钱，刚才被我发现后把她的证件给扣了下来，你们中间若有已领过钱的，请走开。”
“有些人你们也别粘乎，还有一些人想整我，你们想想，我会在乎吗？再说了，我是为你们办好事，你们来了，到处窜，影响到各个部门的工作。(煤)矿上给我们打招呼，考虑到与(煤)矿上的关系不错，我给他们协调了一下才拿来了这些钱。”他说，“有些人昨天来了之后，就给我打电话，说我不给弟兄们照个面，我怎么能跟你们照面？照面的目的就是让我给你们安排吃住，我为啥要给你们安排食宿，你们是自己来而且是来曝光事情的，又不是我请你们来的，再说了，在座的有几个是真正的新闻记者？中宣部、省委宣传部都有明文规定，不准你们这样搞。”他说，“刚才已经发了100多个人了，今天发了钱你们以后就不要向(煤)矿打电话了，此事到此为止。”
训话结束后，开始了有秩序的发放“工资”，每次3个人走向主席台，开始登记，然后再由一位工作人员负责发放钱，跨行业采访者每人100元，综合性媒体每人200元，领到钱后，人都向外走去。
那位与记者同坐一排的长相清秀的女记者拿出一个空白介绍信，填写后走向主席台，记者看到她领到了200元钱。
一位男“记者”的证件遭受质疑，工作人员大声说，洛阳的媒体怎么也来了，然后让这个洛阳某媒体的记者先坐到一边去。
15时，一位男“记者”走到主席台，登记人员向这位“记者”要证件，这位记者笑着说，“我就不用出示证件了，我这张脸就是证件。”在官员的协调下，给了他100元，这人还是不走，看到没有几个人了，负责发钱的人又补给了100元钱后，此人才离去。
所有的人都离去后，汝州市委的这位官员对记者称，从上午到现在，共有300多人领走了近10多万元。他称，这其中的真记者不到三分之一，尽管这样，这些被人们称为假记者的人当地也得罪不起。为什么呢？他说，假记者与真记者相互有牵连，他可能发不了稿子，但他可以找到真记者发稿件，这是最让人头痛的一件事。
至于矿难，这位官员称，他也说不清楚。记者问，如此发钱你们不怕出事吗？这位官员称，“我们对这些假记者也是恨之入骨，谁能治治这些假记者呢？”
经本报核实，那个打着河南商报旗号来领了两次钱的杨勇并不是本报记者或工作人员。