CHANGSHA - A Chinese reporter who is now detained confessed his acts of having released unverified and untrue stories about a company for money and fame and expressed his apology, Xinhua has learned.

Chen Yongzhou, a journalist with the New Express based in the southern city of Guangzhou, said to police that he had continuously released a series of unverified and false reports against the giant engineering company Zoomlion at the request of others.

At the request of others, Chen fabricated facts and wrote more than 10 reports based on supplied materials from Sept 29, 2012 to August 8, 2013 about Zoomlion's "financial problems" without verification, bringing huge losses to the company and its share prices, police said late Friday.

He would like to apologize to the Zoomlion, the stock investors and his own family members, and warn his peers to "learn a lesson from myself," he was quoted by police as saying.

Chen was caught on October 18 in Guangzhou by police from Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province where Zoomlion is based, and detained on suspicion of damaging business reputation.

According to the Changsha City Public Security Bureau, they received complaints from Zoomlion on Chen's false reports on Sept 9, and after investigation, detained Chen with the help of police in Guangzhou.