BEIJING - “The number of words determines how much you pay; normally it costs thirty thousand RMB for twenty thousand words, including five or six pictures. We can negotiate after we read the work.”

This was said by an editor, whose family name is Wang, from Reportage Literature magazine.

A reporter from China Youth Daily recently received a phone call from a source which said the national literature magazine illegally charged people to publish articles, a thousand RMB per thousand words. China Youth Daily investigated and confirmed this deal, which had been banned by the State Administration of Press and Publication.

Here is the translation of the investigation, which was written by reporter Wang Junxiu and published in the China Youth Daily on November 20:

The reporter called the editors’ office and pretended to be a clerk from a company. The “clerk” wanted the magazine to post a PR article for his company. Wang didn't even didn’t ask for more information about the company before replying, “Sure! Is the article already written?”

When the “clerk” asked if they needed any additional material about his company to write, Wang said: “We are short of editors now, so you’d better write it yourself and give it to us directly.” When asked about the content and the quality of the article, Wang said: “It is not hard, the content has to be healthy and the sentences must be coherent. That’s all. And you can add something related to the Scientific Outlook on Development. (A concept initiated by the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2003). Then you can put something about your company in the article. Our editor will polish a little bit too. Don’t worry about it.”

“I heard that Reportage Literature has a high standard. Doesn’t it require good quality articles?” the “clerk” asked.
 
“We publish two different kinds of articles: one is free of charge, which requires high quality; the other one is just an advertisement. If the content is okay, we will charge to publish it.”

When the “clerk” asked about the charge, Wang answered without any hesitation, “That depends on how many words and how many pictures you want to publish. Normally, twenty thousand words, you have to pay thirty thousand RMB, including 5or 6 pictures. If you want us to assign a reporter to write the article, you have to pay a RMB 5000 extra."

The “clerk” tried to bargain, as Wang said the payment was negotiable. About the procedure, Wang introduced: “You send your article to us and we will send you back a legal notification. Then you send us the money.” The clerk required Wang to fax a blank notification. On the notification, the name of the company had to be written on the left side, while the name of the magazine was on the right side. The bank and deposit number were also listed.

Wang said after staff reads the article, they would notify the company about which issue it would appear in. That, along with the amount of money required, would be written on the notification along with the company stamp. After the company agreed and deposited the money, Reportage Literature would publish the article. Wang reiterated that if they signed the notification, there was no doubt that they would publish the article.

The “clerk” asked about buying advertisement in the magazine. Wang gave him some advice: “The article works way better than a simple advertisement. The article has to go with pictures, like your boss’, your company's, and more. Of course, more picture means you have to pay more money.”

According to the source, Mr Shen, they have been doing this for years. “It is really simple to have articles published in Reportage Literature. If you can pay the money, it's no problem,” Mr Shen told reporter. The editors will tell the writers to write about the Members of National Committee of the CPPCC, presidents of privately-owned and state-owned companies, and even military leaders. “Those kinds of people need to publicize themselves or get promoted, so they are prepared to pay big money,” Mr Shen said.
 
On November 19, the reporter went to Reportage Literature magazine’s office to interview the executive chief editor Wu Shuang. Wu denied that they published paid news. However, Wu said: “Paid News? We are a literature magazine. We don’t have any news stories.” When the reporter asked if they had charged to have articles published, Wu said: “That’s so called paid news; some companies want to publicize themselves in our magazine. The article occupies our pages. We have costs, like print, proofreading, etc. Shouldn’t they give us payment?”

Wu told the reporter this is really common in this industry. “How can I put it? You are from China Youth Daily, right? Okay, we are from the same industry. You tell me who doesn’t do this? All of them do this. That’s so obvious!” Wu emphasized that they never went out to find people to pay for articles, all of them contacted the magazine first.

About the magazine

Reportage Literature magazine was started in the 1980’s by a group of veteran reporters and renowned litterateurs. It is a monthly literature and news magazine that has made large contributions to China's literature industry. Renowned Litterateur Mao Dun wrote the name of the magazine himself. It is a very influential magazine, and has authority in China's literature world.