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Hard-hitting Caijing editor Luo Changping removed from post: sources

Journalist known for his exposes on corruption was taken off news department and will join magazine's research arm instead

Zhang Hong

One of the mainland’s most famous journalists, Luo Changping, has been removed from his post as deputy editor of the outspoken current affairs magazine and was transferred to the publication’s research institute, sources said.

’s parent company, SEEC Media Group, announced the decision at a meeting yesterday afternoon. “The meeting just announced it as a usual position change and a need of the magazine’s work arrangement,” said one Chinese reporter at the publication, who declined to be named.

“Luo was not at the meeting,” the reporter noted. “A formal written announcement might be released in a few days. Luo will work for the research institute, but [I am] not sure in which position,” said another reporter.

Calls to Luo himself went unanswered.

Luo Changping. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The institute does not produce news reports, but mainly conducts research, publishes surveys and studies, and organises events for the Beijing-based magazine. Caijing is an influential business and finance magazine, with a circulation of 225,000 per issue, according to its website.

Last December, the 32-year-old Luo exposed on his Weibo account that Liu Tiannan, then the deputy minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, had taken bribes, faked his master’s degree and had extramarital affairs. Luo’s charges eventually led to the sacking of Liu in May.

Luo went on to publish an online book, which disclosed further details about Liu’s corruption and provided anecdotes from former and current senior government officials.

Just this month, Luo won the prestigious Integrity Award in Berlin. News of this was banned on the mainland by the central propaganda department. 

After Luo’s reports, several journalists also made similar moves to expose official corruption online. In mid-July, reporter Wang Wenzhi used his microblog account, which carried his real name, to accuse China Resources Power of buying overvalued coal mining assets in Shanxi province.

>Liu Hu, a journalist with the Guangzhou-based , also called for an investigation into Ma Zhengqi, the deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, in July. However, Liu was later detained by prosecutors in Beijing for defamation.

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