Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- A Chinese newspaper has withdrawn its high-profile support of a detained reporter after he confessed on television to releasing fabricated stories `` for money and fame . '' The New Express printed a letter of apology on its website on Sunday that said the newspaper had failed to fact-check his articles and would manage its journalists more closely . The apology was in contrast to the spirited support the publication had given its reporter in the aftermath of his arrest last week . When contacted by CNN , the paper said that it had been asked not to give interviews . Chen Yongzhou was detained by police in Hunan Province on October 18 on suspicion of damaging the commercial reputation of a business after he published a series of articles that exposed financial problems at Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology . On Saturday , he appeared on state broadcaster CCTV and confessed to accepting money to publish false reports about the state-run maker of construction equipment . `` I did not check the content of these articles and only made minor changes . The original drafts were provided by other people , '' Chen said in the interview . Chen wrote more than 10 unverified reports -- from September 29 , 2012 , until August 8 , 2013 -- that centered on `` financial problems '' experienced by the engineering company Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology , and resulted in losses for the company , Xinhua reported , citing police . In a bold move , New Express had run the headline `` Please set him free '' on its front page on Wednesday . It reiterated its plea on Friday . The paper also said it had checked all of Chen 's stories about Zoomlion and found only one discrepancy . David Bandurski , editor of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong , said the newspaper had taken an unprecedented step in its public defense of the reporter but authorities felt it had gone too far . `` You can get away with it if you have the political backing , but if you do n't you are stepping into dangerous territory and accurate or not accurate is not the most important question , '' he said . He added that the CCTV broadcast of Chen 's confession underlined the political nature of the case , given that the legal investigation has not been completed and Chen has not appeared in court . The reporter 's plight had garnered sympathy from other news outlets and China 's media regulator vowed to protect `` lawful reporting rights , '' according to the state-run China Press and Publishing Media group . However , on Sunday the All China Journalists Association said , while it would uphold the legal rights of news professionals , it was `` against the abuse of news gathering , making profits through news , news blackmailing , and all kinds of violations of journalism ethics . `` All news professionals should learn a lesson from this , and should be fully aware of the serious damage of profitable news and news blackmailing . '' CNN 's Katie Hunt wrote and reported from Hong Kong , Feng Ke reported from Beijng .
Chinese government withdraws protection for detained journalist . New Express apologizes ; said it wanted to fact check journalist 's work . Reporter was detained on suspicion of damaging a company 's reputation . Analyst says cases of erosion of press freedom in China .