Chinese journalists suspended for typo announcing the resignation of president Xi Jinping
An unfortunate typographical error has left four Chinese reporters’ careers in the balance after they erroneously published a report claiming the Chinese president had resigned from his role.
The article from official China News Service referred to Xi Jinping’s speech to a delegation in South Africa, during his African tour.
The South China Morning Post claims that in the Mandarin phonics system used for computer input, resignation is pronounced “ci zhi”, perilously close to “speech” which is “zhi ci” - this was put forward as the reason for the blunder.
Exacerbating the situation, many publications picked up the news, complete with the error, spreading the potentially damaging news – which was approved by the Communist Party's propaganda department - as are all stories on the heads of state.
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy acknowledged the suspension of two reporters and two editors as a result of the mistake.