A senior editor of a Hebei Province newspaper is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a man seeking revenge for an unfavorable story.

Le Qian is lying in a hospital with her lips torn, face stitched and a fresh memory of the attack. [Hebei Youth Daily]

Le Qian, 33, deputy editor-in-chief of Hebei Youth Daily based in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, is lying in a hospital with her lips torn, face stitched and a fresh memory of the attack.

"This is outrageous," said Zhao Weijiang, another vice-chief editor of the paper.

"It's hurting Le Qian so severely, both physically and psychologically," Zhao told China Daily.

"On behalf of all the staff of the newspaper, we demand justice for Le Qian and want the criminal to be punished."

The man who attacked Le is still at large. The police say they are making extra efforts to hunt down the attacker with a special investigation group organized by the Hebei provincial public security department.

"We will penalize anyone or any department involved in this case," said Meng Jianzhong, director of the police bureau where the attack happened.

Reporters are often threatened or even attacked during interviews, but this incident is said to be one of the first few times a senior editor has been attacked out of revenge.

The attack happened last Saturday night at about 8:30 pm when Le came home after shopping and was waiting for an elevator.

Le Qian is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a man seeking revenge for an unfavorable story. [Yanzhao Metropolis Daily]

"I walked back alone to the building where I live and I didn't notice that anybody was following me," Le said. "A bottle fell out of my bag and I stooped to pick it when suddenly someone began hitting my head with something really hard. I cried out and used my arms to protect my head."

The man was hitting Le's face and head with a brick, yelling, "Now you can report!" until a resident came out after hearing Le's cries for help.

"If I hadn't come out, she would've been hurt even more severely," the resident said.

The guard of the community tried to catch the attacker, but he escaped on foot. Le's colleagues came and took her to hospital.

Le went to work in Shijiazhuang in 2006, and she has no family or many social connections there.

"He was yelling about reporting. I think the attack happened due to some critical article our newspaper published," Le said.

The attack deserves society's full attention, Zhao said.

"This is a planned revenge attack on the media and is a serious threat to journalism and public opinion," he said.

Zhao said he and other workers of the newspaper have been psychologically damaged by the attack.

There are many past incidents in which journalists in China have been attacked.

In October, Zhang Jingxing, a reporter from a Luoyang newspaper, was beaten by police when trying to interview people about a severe traffic accident. He was later detained for eight hours.

In June, Wang Xi, a female reporter from a TV station in Shandong province, was attacked by a group when she was covering a story in a village where officials forced villagers to cut down their trees.

Le's attack shows that public opinion supervision is becoming more risky, said Zhou Ze, a lawyer specializing in media.

"The legislature should make laws to protect the rights of media workers," Zhou said.