Undercover reporter's cheating story debated by industry experts

An undercover journalist from Southern Metropolis Daily is attracting growing attention after taking the national college entrance examination under a false identity to break what he said was a cheating ring.

The journalist, whose name has not been confirmed, posed as a student at a testing center in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, to examine a claim that members of a ring were being paid to take the place of some students for the test.

Some media industry insiders and researchers applauded the courage and resourcefulness of the journalist and praised the report for providing solid proof and detailed descriptions about the secret process behind the illegal replacement of students for the annual exam, or gaokao.

"It's what a journalist should do," said Xu Qingliang, former executive editor of Southern Metropolis Weekly, which is part of the same media group as Southern Metropolis Daily, the covert journalist's employer.

By contrast, Chen Baocheng, a reporter from Caixin Media criticized the covert journalism, saying that because the reporter used another person's identity to gain admittance, he committed the same act as the those he was attempting to uncover, and he should be punished. A news article is no excuse, Chen said.

That view is not shared by many. The undercover journalist informed the local public security bureau about his intentions before entering the testing room on Sunday, and he wrote his intentions on the test paper. That sets him apart from other ghostwriters, who are making money by taking exams for others, Xu said.

The student whose name the reporter used to gain admittance will not benefit.

But it's not a good timing to release a story about cheating on the first day of the two- to three-day national exam. The attention from the education authorities and society may make some students nervous, he said.

Though he supported the publication of a report on the sensitive topic of ghostwriters in the national exam, Wang Tianding, a professor in the journalism and communications school at Xi'an International Studies College, said the covert journalist's eye-catching story might not be appropriate because sitting in as a replacement for others in the national exam is illegal.

"Though there are discussions on whether the reporter's behavior is appropriate or not, it's not illegal under the law," said Yi Shenghua, a Beijing-based criminal lawyer.