Controversial 'true journalist' Lu Keng, 89, dies in US

Veteran journalist Lu Keng , a remarkable and courageous reporter for more than 60 years, died in San Francisco yesterday at the age of 89.

His articles criticising authorities and state leaders won him renown as 'a true journalist' but also cost him 22 years in the jails of the Communist Party and Kuomintang and bans from the mainland and Taiwan.

His controversial report of a conversation with then Communist Party general secretary Hu Yaobang contributed to Hu's dismissal in the 1980s.

Taiwan's United Evening News said Lu passed away peacefully in a hospital in San Francisco after struggling with a blood clot in his lungs for 10 days. His family was with him at the time, and his remains will be sent to his hometown in Yunnan .

'He was very proud of being a journalist and, in contrast to many who tend to become a senior editor after accumulating years of experience, he never thought it shameful to be a working journalist, even when he was old,' said Li Pu , former Xinhua deputy head.

Senior journalist Yang Jisheng said Lu had 'never bowed to power, never bowed to anybody, he was only responsible for facts'.

Born in Baoshan in 1919, he graduated from a journalism training programme at the Central Politics School and became the first radio reporter in China. Stationed in Europe during the second world war, he won his early reputation through his interviews with American generals Eisenhower, MacArthur and Marshall.