China Digital Times

China news tagged with: media regulations (11)

• China: No more money-for-coverage - Joe McDonald

  

  Following the brutal murder of Lan Chengzhang in January, the Chinese government has announced new rules aimed at outlawing the common practice of paying for coverage. From AP:

  China’s government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common practice of demanding money from people they cover, a state news agency said Tuesday, after the killing of a newspaper employee drew attention to the seamier side of the industry.

  Newspapers also must make sure that only properly accredited reporters are allowed to conduct newsgathering, the China News Service said, citing an order by the national news industry regulator. [Full text]

  » Read more
  • April 3, 2007 8:45 PM

• New media rules and a journalist on trial

  

  From the South China Morning Post, two stories which have implications for media freedom in China:

  The Communist Party has further tightened its grip on the mainland’s increasingly bold media by imposing a pre-censorship rule on coverage of politically sensitive topics, according to sources.

  In an internal document released to state-run media recently, the Publicity Department of the party’s Central Committee said the media should seek permission to cover significant historic events or key anniversaries involving revolutionary or political figures that are seen as controversial or politically sensitive…

  A senior media executive said the convening of a crucial party congress this autumn was a key factor in the decision to further tighten controls because the leadership was keen to ensure a more harmonious political environment ahead of the meeting. [Full text]

  SCMP also reports on the trial of a journalist who reportedly expressed support for detained lawyer Gao Zhisheng:

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  • January 16, 2007 9:02 PM

• Media Censorship in China - Carin Zissis

  

  The Council on Foreign Relations has prepared a Backgrounder on the recent crackdown on the media in China:

  The upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and recent regulations about the distribution of news from foreign wire services are drawing international attention to censorship tactics in China. Even as the country’s burgeoning economy allows greater diversity in China’s media coverage, the preexisting monitoring system piles on new restrictions and fines, and the government continues to detain and harass journalists. But experts say the growing Chinese demand for information is testing a regime trying to use media controls in its bid to maintain control. [Full text]

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  • September 27, 2006 2:34 PM

• Foreign Media Companies Confused by New Rules - VOA

  

  From VOA, via China Confidential blog:

  Foreign investors and media companies are awaiting word on how China plans to enforce a set of restrictions it announced earlier this month on the foreign media. The restrictions are widely viewed as an attempt by the government to keep control of the country’s growing, lucrative media market. Analysts say the rules highlight the paradox of China’s attempts to open its markets while at the same time seeking to retain control of them.

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  • September 23, 2006 7:17 AM

• Silent Games - Melinda Liu

  

  On Newsweek.com, Melinda Liu summarizes the recent government crackdown on free expression in China:

  For a while many foreign correspondents thought authorities were “killing the chicken to scare the monkey.” That’s a Chinese proverb meaning one target is attacked in order to intimidate another. When we saw our Chinese contacts harassed, detained, physically assaulted and sentenced to prison over the past year, it was tempting to assume they’d been “soft targets” for a regime intent on warning us, the international media, to stop sticking our noses into sensitive topics.

  But we were being naive. Beijing’s goals are far more sweeping than the chicken-and-monkey metaphor could encompass. Today’s targets are not just domestic media and foreign correspondents, not just our Chinese sources and local assistants. Less than two years before Beijing hosts the 2008 Summer Olympics, authorities are in the midst of a concerted”and disturbing”effort to slam stricter controls on what Chinese know and how they know it. [Full text]

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  • September 19, 2006 8:55 PM

• The Beijing News joins criticism of limits on media reporting of the courts in China - David Bandurski

  

  From the China Media Project:

  The Beijing News added its dissenting voice to the issue of court transparency in a page-two editorial today. The criticism follows articles by Southern Metropolis Daily and Shanghai Securities News arguing that new rules limiting media access to judicial information in China, announced Wednesday, are a step in the wrong direction. [Full text]

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  • September 15, 2006 2:49 PM

• Foreign media react to new regulations

  

  Several media outlets and human rights organizations have reacted to the recent announcement by Xinhua that the official news agency would be responsible for all news distribution in China. From a New York Times editorial:

  China has long prided itself on its ability to master capitalism without indulging in the messy business of democracy. So Beijing got a twofer this week when it gave the state-run Xinhua news agency monopoly control over the lucrative financial news business and the power to administer broad censorship rules for all foreign news entering China.

  Xinhua even got to announce the news of the new regulations. Not surprisingly, it didn’t quote any critics…

  These new rules appear, at a minimum, to violate their WTO pledges to liberalize access to financial information. Trade officials and foreign business leaders need to remind Beijing’s leaders of those promises. And they need to warn them that a country that keeps a stranglehold on information is not a great place to invest. [Full text]
  
  

  And from the Washington Post:

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  • September 13, 2006 9:46 AM

• Press groups criticize China foreign news curbs - Benjamin Kang Lim

  

  From the Reuters:

  International rights groups denounced new Chinese curbs on the dissemination of foreign news as a step backward ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when thousands of journalists will descend on the country’s capital.

  The official Xinhua news agency announced rules on Sunday requiring foreign media to seek its approval with immediate effect to distribute news, pictures and graphics within China.

  Warning against dissemination of news that endangers national security, sabotages national unification or promotes cults, the rules empower Xinhua to censor reports distributed in China by foreign media and to delete forbidden content. [Full Text]

  See related report: China’s foreign news curbs raise concern-U.S.

  » Read more
  • September 12, 2006 1:53 PM

• Web postings criticize formalized curbs on Chinese media cooperation with foreign newswires - David Bandurski

  

  From China Media Project:

  Mainstream Chinese media have not yet commented on regulations issued yesterday through Xinhua News Agency that formalize already strict limitations on cooperation between Chinese media and foreign newswires [NYT coverage], but critical blogs and web postings (with a trickle in support) are already multiplying. The following are postings (or gentie) that appeared this morning on Netease (163.com), where there were already more than 1,000 postings on the subject:

  We’re moving further and further backward!!
  —
  Xinhua News Agency’s behavior first of all can not violate the principle of “freedom of expression” as stipulated in the constitution! Xinhua is not the government and is not the law!
  —
  What are they afraid people will say?? If everything’s open and aboveboard, what do we have to fear?? Where has our Party’s tradition gone???? [Full Text]
  

  Read also related post via CDT.

  » Read more
  • September 11, 2006 10:07 PM

• China: Tolerate Dissent to Continue Growth - Brian Bremner

  

  From Business Week:

  Given the global admiration that China’s economic ascendancy inspires abroad these days, it’s easy to forget the mainland is run by a one-party state with a near-obsessive need to control sensitive information. It is both a 21st century economic phenomenon“and a massive surveillance state. And if you doubt that Big Brother lives on in contemporary China, take a closer look at the sweeping rollback of press freedoms in recent years.

  Under Chinese president Hu Jintao, mainland journalists have been fired or jailed over stories they have published, while Beijing has stepped up efforts to shut down Web sites and expand high-tech monitoring of Internet search engines, e-mails, and blogs. The latest tightening of the information tourniquet: On Sept. 10, Beijing put in place a ban on the direct sale of financial information from international media organizations such as Reuters and Bloomberg to mainland banks and corporate customers. [Full text]

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  • September 11, 2006 9:27 PM

• China Announces New Regulations on Foreign Media - Luis Ramirez

  

  From VOA News:

  China has unveiled a new set of restrictions on the type of news content foreign agencies can distribute in China. Press freedom advocates say the move is the latest attempt by the communist government to clamp down on the free flow of information.

  The state-owned Xinhua News Agency on Sunday said it was exercising control of all distribution of news in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, regions where there have been long traditions of press freedom.

  The agency unveiled 22 articles with restrictions to prevent news reporting that it says may endanger China’s national security, undermine social stability, or help spread the influence of what it described as “evil cults” or superstition. [Full Text]

  This topic on the Web, via Google News.

  UPDATE: Daniu, a Chinese journalist blogger’s response to the new regulation is here (in Chinese):

  “The new regulation says: Chinese domestic users who are subscribing to news from foreign news agencies must sign a subscription contract with agencies appointed by Xinhua. No one is allowed to directly subscribe, translate and publish news from foreign news agencies in any way.

  Daniu’s comment: OK. This means domestic users can only passively receive international news from the broker Xinhua. It would be illegal to get this news from any company except Xinhua. For example, AFP can provide 1000 photos to domestic subscribers, and the annual fee is 80,000 RMB. After going through Xinhua, domestic users can only get 20 AFP photos each day, and the annual fee is as high as 120,000 RMB, and no bargaining is allowed.”

  (translated by CDT)

  » Read more
  • September 10, 2006 9:52 AM

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