Ben LawsonRui Chenggang, a star anchor on state run China Central Television, has been detained as part of a wide investigation into corruption within the nation's Communist Party. (Via World Economic Forum / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
State-run People's Daily tweeted Saturday that Rui had been taken into custody.
CCTV's vice director of financial news Li Yong was also detained, and South China Morning Post reports 1 million yuan or about $160,000 U.S. was found in his office.
The producers for Rui's widely watched show, "Economic News," were reportedly not informed prior to him being taken into custody, leaving his co-anchor to do the show accompanied by an empty chair and microphone.
Rui has been called the "face of new China" and commands more social media followers than any other CCTV personality.
The New York Times reports CCTV has started taking down all content related to Rui and scrapping all on-air advertisements featuring him and his show.
According to Financial Times, this particular anti-corruption probe began last year and shows no sign of slowing down. The Communist Party worries widespread rumors of corruption could seriously threaten its one-party rule.
CNN points out suspicion was first put on Rui when his longtime friend and head of CCTV's financial news channel was detained last month for allegedly accepting bribes.
Authorities in China have not made public the specific reason behind Rui's detainment as of Saturday.
