BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Many reporters said they had received anonymous calls asking them not to make public Sony digital camera flaws, the Xinhua Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

    The provincial administration for industry and commerce of Zhejiang in east China announced on Monday evening that six models of Sony digital cameras involving 30 production batches were spotchecked as unqualified in terms of imaging quality and automatic exposure effect.

    The local authorities have asked stores to take the problem aticcameras off the counter.

    But many media said they received anonymous calls urging a cover-up before the story was published.

    "We were asked not to report and promised a huge subscription to our newspaper," a local newspaper editor was quoted as saying.

    "He (the anonymous caller) also said that all other newspapers had decided not to report it, and the administration for industry and commerce has adopted biased measures during the inspection," the editor said, without giving his name.

    Last week, the administration launched a spotcheck on 34 models of digital cameras in six brands on sale in the province, and found that 13 models were unqualified.

    Sony DSC-H1 and DSC-L1, produced in Sony's Shanghai branch, were found to have problems in imaging balance, white balance, automatic exposure and the brightness of the LCD screen.

    The other four problematic Sony models, DSC-P200, DSC-W7, DSC-W5 and DSC-S90, made in a factory in Wuxi, a city west to Shanghai, were also found inferior in imaging balance and automatic exposure.

    "Before the announcement of the defective Sony cameras, we tried to contact the Sony branch in Hangzhou (capital of Zhejiang),but were refused," said Bian Yuyang, a staff member of the Zhejiang provincial administration for industry and commerce.

    Most Chinese newspapers published the news right after the announcement. Enditem