From the Christian Science Monitor:
Draconian management of information is a time-honored tradition in China, where the pen has always garnered roughly the same respect as the sword. But China’s leaders have rarely been so open about major media controls – and have never publicly considered writing them into its legal code.
“This is definitely new,” says Wang Feng, a Beijing-based journalist.
Experts either don’t know or aren’t willing to say exactly why the government is considering the move. Journalists themselves offer one of the most compelling theories: The law, many say, is a desperate move from a government nervous that current measures aren’t enough to contain the country’s increasingly independent and sophisticated newspapers. [Full text]
Read more about the proposed media law, via CDT.
