THE four migrant workers involved in the cardboard-stuffed bun scandal are suing Beijing Television Station for defamation.

The four persons, Wei Quanfeng, Zhao Xiaoyan, Zhao Jiangbo and Yang Chunling, all from Huayin, a city in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province, were allegedly told to make bun fillings out of cardboard by reporter Zi Beijia in order to fabricate an investigative news report.

"The Beijing TV Station's failure to review the story carefully led to the fake bun scandal, which also damaged the reputation of Wei and three other migrant workers," said Zhang Shilei, a lawyer with Beijing Jingzhe Lawyer Firm, acting on behalf of the four plaintiffs.

Zi was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 1,000 yuan (US$132) for "damaging the reputation of a commercial sector."

Last June, Zi, under an assumed name of Hu Yue, went to Taiyanggong Township in Chaoyang District, and asked four migrant workers who had been preparing breakfast there to make meat buns for him, feeding them the lie that he would buy the stuffed buns in large quantities, police say.

Zhang explained that the four workers had decided to sue the Beijing TV Station instead of the reporter himself because they thought that, seeing as Zi had already been sentenced to one year in prison with a fine, he would be unable to give them compensation.

"Wei and the other three who involved in the fake bun story have filed their lawsuit with the Haidian District People's Court, near where Beijing TV Station is located," said Zhang, adding that they were waiting for the court's decision about whether the case would be heard.

(Xinhua)