Who is protected by the "protection fee" collected by 21st Century Network?

Behind the "paid silence of IPOs" is a reflection of the chaos in the media industry and the chaos in the listing and issuance of Chinese stocks. No industry can be beyond the law, and this is the norm of the rule of law.

On September 3, the famous domestic financial media "21st Century Network" became the protagonist of the news. According to the preliminary investigation by the police, the senior executives and a few reporters of 21st Century Network used 21st Century Network as a platform and used the bait of not reporting negative news to collect "protection fees" from listed or prospective listed companies in cooperation with public relations companies. For any client who signed a so-called "advertising agreement" with them, the website would no longer publish their negative news, or delete the negative reports that had been posted online. This method has become their business philosophy, and the industry calls it collecting "protection fees."

"Paid silence" seriously violates journalistic ethics and should be severely condemned. In addition, legally, "IPO paid silence" is suspected of extortion and should be punished according to law. Under the command of the Ministry of Public Security, the police in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Changsha took unified actions and took compulsory measures against the president, editor-in-chief, relevant management, operation, and editing staff of 21st Century Network, as well as the heads of two public relations companies. Although we are not sure how many suspects will be charged and how many defendants will be sentenced in the end, this case has entered the public eye and has considerable negative typical value.

It should also be noted that the practice of collecting "protection fees" is only the behavior of individual media such as 21st Century Network, and is definitely not the mainstream of the current media. In fact, all credible media despise such "ways to make money", abide by the law and discipline, and hate bad media and bad media people who "collect protection fees". Moreover, they also hope that the relevant parties will bring these bad apples to justice as soon as possible. Therefore, this case is actually helpful to clean up the atmosphere in the media industry.

However, reflection on this case obviously cannot stop at the level of media industry self-discipline. Judging from the cases cited by the police, 21st Century Network's "paid silence" involved hundreds of companies. Therefore, the more worthy question is whether the suppressed news is true? Do these companies have problems? Have these problematic companies successfully listed?

Behind the "paid silence of IPOs" lies the chaos in the media industry and the chaos in the listing and issuance process of my country's stock market. The reason why 21st Century Network and bad public relations companies can make a fortune is undoubtedly a direct indication that there are still loopholes in the listing and issuance qualification review under the administrative approval system. If these problematic companies are not exposed one by one, it is obviously irresponsible to shareholders.

Therefore, even after the public security organs investigated and punished several executives of 21st Century Network, the case is not over. The police, securities regulatory authorities and the media all have the responsibility to follow the clues and trace the list of "extortion" by 21st Century Network to see what other problems there are in those companies and whether there are other criminal activities behind them.

At present, the key to combating news extortion is to investigate and deal with it in accordance with the law. The meaning of "in accordance with the law" refers to both the media suspected of news extortion and the extorted companies. If the company has not violated any law or regulation, why should it be afraid of extortion by some bad media? We certainly cannot "presume guilt" for all the victimized companies that have been extorted, but it is also the obligation and responsibility of the relevant parties to conduct relevant investigations and screen for criminal clues that may be hidden in them. No industry can be beyond the law, this is the normal state of the rule of law.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.