Mon, August 20, 2012
HANGZHOU, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- A township official in east China's Zhejiang Province has been dismissed from his post after he allegedly pushed a cameraman into a fishpond.
On Monday, Shi Guofeng was sacked from his post as the deputy secretary of the township committee of the Communist Party of China, in Balidian of Wuxing District, Huzhou City, a source at the district government told Xinhua. Shi has been placed on a one-year probation within the Party.
The source said local police are investigating the dispute, where Shi along with four or five other township government officials allegedly pushed the cameraman into a fishpond, in Balidian, last week.
The journalist with the Zhejiang Provincial TV Station, who was reporting about fish being killed in the pond, ignored Shi's requests to stop shooting. His camera worth 220,000 yuan (34,700 U.S. dollars) was destroyed after it also went into the pond.
The latest development has eased anger in cyberspace, where there have been demands for an investigation and the safeguard of media's supervisory role.
"Don't let the supervisory role of the media sink along with the journalist's camera," a brief commentary on the website of Southern Metropolis Daily said.
