China journalists demand "hush money" at coal mine

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is investigating dozens of "journalists," some genuine, some not, who demanded hush money from a coal mine after a pit accident killed one person, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

The mine did not report the death to the local government in northern Shanxi province when the accident happened in September, the Beijing News said. The owner was fined 8,000 yuan ($1,170).

"Around 40 or 50 'journalists' came here for money," the newspaper quoted an official at the mine as saying. They demanded sums of up to 10,000 yuan for not publicizing the death.

China's coal mines are the world's most dangerous, killing nearly 3,800 people last year, as high demand for energy from a booming economy pushes managers to cut safety corners.

Scams involving journalists and people posing as journalists to demand hush money are common in China.

Authorities jailed four men in October who tried to blackmail a local official by threatening to write incriminating information about government abuse of power in land usage.

In January, a reporter for a Beijing-based newspaper was beaten to death by hired thugs during an investigation into an unlicensed coal mine in Shanxi. Officials there said he lacked accreditation and suggested he may have been seeking payoffs.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom: Editing by Nick Macfie)

($1=6.843 Yuan)