Hong Kong director sues mainland journalists
By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-11-04 22:37

A famous Hong Kong director has filed a lawsuit against eight media outlets and an individual on the Chinese mainland, charging that they have either irresponsibly quoted him or implicated him in a scandal that has brought painful suffering and great pecuniary loss.

The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court held the first hearing yesterday.

Rui Yanhong, a reporter from the Youth Times, a newspaper in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, published an article about Stanley Tong, the plaintiff, on February 3 this year, saying that Tong ditched his girlfriend when she was pregnant with his baby which led to her attempted suicide and subsequent disability.

The other seven defendants, two from Shanghai, quoted the article within days.

Two days later, the said ex-girlfriend denied the story from Singapore, and declared herself good and healthy.

Chen Shen, Tong's lawyer, said: "The false news soon spread through the country and overseas, and was seen in more than 100 media outlets.

"This untrue story has greatly damaged Tong's fame, and even cost him a film contract with Media Asia Group, a film and video production company in Hong Kong."

Tong is now requesting about 8 million yuan (US$960,000) in compensation.

"The money includes HK$6.5 million (US$840,000) incurred by the termination of the film contract, and 1 million yuan (US$120,000) compensation for the mental stress Tong suffered," said Chen.

The Youth Times explained that Rui got the story from a man who claimed to be a close friend of the woman in the story. The Youth Times later published responses from Tong and the woman, which the newspaper claimed showed their objectivity and impartiality.

In addition, all the defendants emphasized that as a public figure, Tong's rights to privacy and reputation differ from those of normal people and his words and deeds should be subject to the public's supervision.

"As Tong's name is now known to more people after this incident, he will surely make more money than lose it," said the lawyer representing the Youth Times.

"And there is no strong evidence proving that it was our article that led to the termination of Tong's film contract, thus we reject the HK$6.5 million claim."

The other defendants insisted that they simply quoted the story and fulfilled their duties as journalists.

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