It’s not uncommon for people to be arrested in China for spreading rumors on any platform.

Since an epic stock boom went bust this summer, China’s government has struggled to contain the crisis, ordering the press to downplay the story, and periodically singling out scapegoats, from hostile foreign forces, to “malicious” short-sellers, to the U.S. Federal Reserve and now, the press.

State broadcaster CCTV showed Wang as saying that he had sought to create a stir and catch the eyes of readers with his articles.

Xinhua said Wang was held for fabricating and spreading fake information which had “caused panics and disorder at (the) stock market, seriously undermined the market confidence, and inflicted huge losses on the country and investors”.

“I should not have published a report that heavily and negatively affected the market at such a sensitive time… It cost the country and investors very big losses”.

Chinese state media regularly carries what it presents as confessions of suspects in high-profile cases.

Xinhua did not say if Wang wrote more than one story or detail what he reported.

“Suggesting that a business journalist was responsible for the spectacular fall in share prices is a denial of reality”.

Among the rumours circulating at the time were that a man had jumped off a building in Beijing over the collapse of the stock market and speculation that at least 1,300 people were killed in Tianjin blasts – the official death toll so far is 150, with 23 missing.

Wang Xiaolu who works with Caijing magazine was among the person’s the Chinese authorities swept, Wang later confessed to being subjective in his report which was entirely based on hearsay.

Xinhua also said Liu Shufan, an official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), had confessed to insider trading, forging official seals and using his position to boost a listed company’s share price in return for several million yuan worth of bribes.

But Caijing said it “defended journalists’ rights to do their duty under the law”, according to a statement posted on its website.

On Sunday, the brokerage said several senior managers had been asked to assist with a public security investigation and that the company was actively cooperating with the request.