Zhejiang journalist receives internet death threats over housing market reports
Police are investigating threats made against a Wenzhou city reporter on a popular forum
Local police have begun investigations after a reporter received death threats for his stories on the cooling housing market in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province.
Administrators deleted the post, but it re-appeared the next day, complete with a multiple choice voting poll, where the options were “kill”, “do not kill”, and “abstain from voting”.
“The changes in Wenzhou’s economy and the actions of this double-crossing finance reporter are connected,” a section of the post read. “All of the negative reports about Wenzhou were done by him … For the sake of Wenzhou’s economy, it’s necessary for Chen Zhouxi to become a victim of the system.”
Chen Zhouxi, who has worked for years at popular business paper Diyi Caijing Ribao, known in English as First Financial Daily, was notified soon after the post re-appeared and reported the matter to Wenzhou local police.
After considering the nature of the post, authorities decided to classify it formally as a hate threat, and investigations to determine the identity of the “Luoju Luoshui” poster are ongoing.