Award-winning journalist Luo Changping on the state of Chinese media

Investigative journalist Luo Changping is this year’s winner of the prestigious Integrity Award in Berlin. The Beijing-based deputy editor of , is the first Chinese citizen to receive the award, which honours exceptional anti-graft activism and is handed out by the global governance watchdog Transparency International on Friday in Berlin.

The 33-year-old risked his career and freedom last December when he accused Liu Tienan, the deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, of corruption.

The young journalist accused Liu of abusing his position as party head of China’s National Energy Administration to enrich his family. Luo also reported that the official threatened to kill an estranged mistress in Japan. The NDRC dismissed the report as “rumours” until in May state media reported a corruption investigation into Liu, which is still ongoing. Liu has been dismissed from his post.

Luo’s success has inspired other journalists to expose corrupt officials. Liu Hu, a reporter with the in Guangdong, accused Ma Zhengqi, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, of graft. But Liu Hu has since been arrested on defamation charges.

Chen Yongzhou, another reporter, was detained last month on charges of harming a company’s business reputation after publishing a series of incriminating articles on Zoomlion, the nation’s second-largest maker of construction equipment. Chen was paraded on national television last week, where he admitted to accepting bribes for publishing articles critical of Zoomlion.

Luo shared his somewhat bleak views on the state of Chinese journalism with the in a short WeChat conversation from Berlin, where he is set to receive his award later on Friday.