August 28
FoxConn is not dumb, but downright vicious
First, a correction: the court that authorized the freeze on the two China Business News reporters was not in Shanghai, but an intermediate court in Shenzhen, where FoxConn's headquarters are. Not much surprise there either.
Words in the Chinese press circles are, that FoxConn, therefore Hon Hai, had deliberately picked the two journalists from China Business News to sue in a painstaking plot to harrass and intimidate media outlets and journalists. After all, China Business News was not the only newspaper that doggedly followed the iPod sweatshop story. It seems that FoxConn, before launching the much criticized lawsuit, had also considered targeting 21st Century Economic Herald, another popular business newspaper who had similarly covered the story. But FoxConn's lawyers, after much investigation, found out that the 21st Century reporters who were involved in reporting the story had solid, formal employment contracts with the paper -- therefore, unlikely to be held as legitimate defendants in a court.
Luckily for FoxConn, their lawyers found out that the two China Business News reporters, due to some rather complicated legal loophole at this messily-managed paper, did not have formal contracts. Therefore, there may be a chance that the court would regard them as "correspondents", or stringers, despite the fact that they had worked full-time at the newspaper. Under the 1993 Supreme Court judicial interpretation, part-time correspondents may be held liable personally in libel suits. Such plotting, if true, bespeaks FoxConn's determination to go after journalists daring enough to criticize it. Even so, this does not make the Shenzhen court any less of a conspirator in this ugly business. Their interpretation of the law would be crucial to how this whole show unravels.
Interestingly, the Internet ire so far is directed not only against FoxConn, but many journalists are also pointing a finger at the court and the Shenzhen government. The journalists certainly ain't dumb, and it seems more and more are becoming involved. I don't know if this will become FoxConn's worst PR crisis in the mainland, but it seems to have the potential of blowing into a full-blown national scandal. The arrogance and viciousness of the Taiwanese electronics giant is simply unbearable.
Meanwhile, the news portal Sina is having a great day amidst this storm of controversy: apart from putting together a special section aggregating all news coverage on this affair, it has also opened a blog for the two sued journalists. As I am writing this, editor Weng Bao has already posted a piece titled "this is the most difficult moment in my ten-year career as a journalist", and more than two hundred comments have already been posted. 
Tools 
Help
