968 The News Disaster

Among all the judges, Annie Shizuka Inou was the only one that Qin Guan had never communicated with. Harlem Yu was Qin Guan's good friend, so he didn't want to have too much contact with this woman.

As an insider, one had to clarify who was their friend and stand on their side through gossip and other events. This was the best way to maintain a friendship.

Meanwhile, Director Zhang Yuan wanted to have a private word with Qin Guan. This was too much trouble for Qin Guan though, so he kindly passed this chance on to Huang and Fan.

Actually, Qin Guan had good connections with many directors, so he knew a lot of secrets. Virtue was a crucial criteria for Qin Guan when he made friends or selected a partner. Zhang Yuan was exactly the kind of person Qin Guan would never get along with.

He turned to Wang Zhonglei to discuss a way to invite Li Yifeng to Huayi. As they walked to the parking lot, Wang suddenly told Qin Guan, "Will you come to the company tomorrow? We have been made an offer, but we couldn't make a decision."

"A decision about what?"

"The government wants us to produce a TV series about the army and the Anti-Japanese War."

"What? I thought this was the job of the August First Film Studio."

"It's just a script about army life. It's different from traditional military stories though, so it must be approved by the military and produced by someone who does not lack capital. They know that you are interested in supporting good scripts, so they sent it to us."

"Okay. See you in the office tomorrow afternoon. We can also discuss next year's overall investment plan."

"Okay, see you."

Qin Guan was a busy man, so when he flew somewhere he had some precious time to find a way to entertain himself. On the way back to Beijing, he kept laughing at the warning letter published on every media by the SARFT.

At the time, ordinary people tended to believe newspapers and TV stations. They accepted information without questioning it, which made Qin Guan worry about their IQ.

Due to the difficulty of communication, news about foreign countries were the easiest to twist. One had to use their own judgement when reading news regarding ordinary life.

If Chinese people lacked the ability to think independently, they would be in danger.

The news Qin Guan was reading was a good example.

"Buns made out of paper boxes were found in the capital..."

The capital TV station reported that some unscrupulous traders in the Chaoyang District had used waste paper as filling for buns. Plenty of citizens had believed the news, so the buns could not be sold for a long time.

Qin Guan burst into laughter. This was actually fabricated news. The editor of the program had found some labor workers and filmed a fake live show.

This was the most serious case of fabricated news so far. The culprit had been sentenced to one year in prison and paid a fine of 1,000 yuan. More and more fake news like this were uncovered in 2007.

The worst publication was "Zhiyin" magazine, which was filled with fabricated news about vicious stepmothers abusing their husbands' daughters, mothers adopting 176 soldiers, and other outrageous stories.

By publishing such crazy stories, the magazine just aimed to boost its sales through its thrilling titles. It had never taken into account the validity of the published news.

There was no specific department that supervised the news reported by the media, so the government didn't know what to do about this.

After a long discussion, the Ministry of Culture successfully shifted all responsibility to the SARFT. This had been the origin behind the letter.

One had to take care of themselves during a disaster.

Qin Guan burst into tears when he read the news that Sammo Hung had died once again.

Soon, he reached his apartment. After he rested for a day, he would go to Huayi for the meeting.