Do you really want to do business in a place where employees in an industry that is a key element of society are regularly harassed, jailed and attacked? I refer to journalists working in China. Too often, in our pell-mell rush to embrace that country's burgeoning market and ingratiate ourselves to it, we overlook things we shouldn't.

You Wang and Bao Wen are journalists for the China Business News, a Shanghai-based daily. They wrote a piece critical of working conditions in a factory where iPods are manufactured. In America, we'd applaud their investigative reporting. In China, the authorities bring down the hammer.

Wang confirmed that the pair's credit cards, apartments and cars were confiscated after they reported in June that employees at Foxconn's Shenzhen factory work 12 hours a day, or more hours per week than the sanctioned limit. Foxconn is a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., a massive Taiwanese manufacturing concern deeply into consumer electronics. There's a lot at stake, a lot of money on the table, and having some pesky reporters asking questions about conditions in a factory that makes the world's most popular music player isn't good for business.

Foxconn initially sued the reporters for $3.7 million, claiming libel. Late last week, the claim was reduced to a token sum of 1 yuan (about 12 cents), and the pair's assets were unfrozen. Apple Computer may have interceded on their behalf. Still, in the States, we have well-defined libel laws, and media organizations generally protect reporters. Suits are brought against the media outlets, not the journalists.

Foxconn is no stranger to libel suits. In 2004, it sued a Taiwan-based reporter for $912,000, alleging that a report had detailed some of its sensitive pricing information. Foxconn later withdrew the suit under pressure from the Association of Taiwan Journalists.

Reporters Without Borders has chronicled other incidents. In 2005, attackers charged into reporter Wen Chong's house and cut off two of his fingers. Journalist Zan Aizong was jailed for a week last month after he was accused of "spreading rumors harmful to society" for reporting that authorities had demolished a Protestant church being built in the southeast province of Zhejiang. More prominently, New York Times researcher Zhao Yan was jailed last month for alleged fraud and may serve a three-year sentence.

The concepts of a free press and the rule of law haven't quite caught on in China, and yet those elements are vital to a working society. If you do business in China, you can do your part by not looking the other way.