In China, Reports Of Fake Furniture May Also Be Fake

Da Vinci Furniture's press conference.

China’s state-run broadcaster, CCTV, has suddenly found itself under the glare of media scrutiny, after the scandal-plagued retailer Da Vinci Furniture accused the station of blackmail.

According to a report in a respected business magazine, Caixin Century, Da Vinci has released video and audio recordings to support its claim that China Central Television had distorted earlier reports that its furniture had not been imported from Italy and had actually been made in southern China, instead.

In mid-July, CCTV’s Weekly Quality Report program stated that Da Vinci had been falsifying the country of origin for its products on an industrial scale while also using  substandard materials.

When the reports first aired, Doris Phua, Da Vinci’s chief executive, agreed to pay a bribe of about $150,000 to a CCTV reporter named Li Wenxue to prevent any further negative reports from the broadcaster, according to Caixin.

During a teary-eyed press conference at the time, Phua had asked the public to have faith in her claims that their products were indeed made in Italy, while pleading to be given another chance. Founded in Singapore by Phua, Da Vinci’s line of products includes names like Armani Casa, Fendi Casa, Versace Home and many others.

Unfortunately for Phua, the authorities from the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau reported afterward that some of retailer’s products had been made in China and then shipped to the Waigaoqiao Bonded Zone before being moved back into Da Vinci’s warehouse. By spending a day in the bonded zone, the furniture had changed from being classed as domestically produced to “imported.”

Caixin’s report underscores the all too common practice in China of buying advertising in a publication, or making other forms of payments, to make negative news reports simply go away. David Bandurksi, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project, describes the problem as being “endemic” within the industry. He also pointed out the irony of this latest turn of events.

“This appears to be an example of a professional, commercial media institution [Caixin] doing the monitoring of its own profession by cross-checking stories,” Bandurski said. “And it comes at time when CCTV has been one of the most vocal advocates of the government’s recent anti-rumor campaign seeking to clamp down on fake information spreading through social media.”

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Via: Forbes