BEIJING, May 2 (UPI) -- A growing number of journalists in China are working-for-hire to expose corruption and bypass the communist regime's censorship, the Washington Post reports.
Xu Xiang and Li Xinde, two Web reporters for hire, told the Post they take fees from those who can afford to pay but also investigate for free if clients have no money.
"It's not strange for the self-supported Web-site reporters to ask someone to cover transportation expenses," Li said.
Communist party censorship prevents many editors and publishers from printing potentially embarrassing stories in the first place, but the Internet is different for the new breed of journalists. Massive computer systems and legions of monitors skim Chinese news postings, but by the time they are found and shut down, the damage has been done, and writers like Xu and Li simply open new sites, the report said.
In an interview, Xu said he was not trying to overturn the political system.
"I am against corrupt officials," he said. "But I am not against the Communist Party."
