Tuo Zhen, crusading journalist turned Guangdong propagandist

Guangdong's propaganda chief, under fire for altering the New Year edition of the outspoken Southern Weekly, was once a crusading journalist known for his reports on the plight of the poor and deprived.

However, as Tuo Zhen moved up to become a top media executive and propaganda official, he was increasingly seen as a hardline censor and attracted widespread criticism from journalists.

Tuo, 52, started his career as a reporter at the Economic Daily in 1982, and went on to become the newspaper's chief editor in 2005. In 2011, he was made a vice-president of Xinhua, and he moved to Guangdong in May last year.

He gained early fame for an award-winning story he wrote in 1983 about an engineer who lived in a dilapidated home and worked for a boss who owned four apartments.

Tuo was named one of China's 10 most outstanding young people in 1993 and was made a senior reporter for the Economic Daily in 1994.

During his time at the newspaper, Tuo was involved in a series of reports on reforms launched in Tongling , Anhui province, when former Guangdong Communist Party chief Wang Yang was the city's mayor.