MCLC: China bans critical coverage

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: China ban critical coverage
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Source: Reuters (6/18/14):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/18/uk-china-media-idUKKBN0ET14H201406
18?

China bans unauthorised critical coverage by journalists

(Reuters) - Reporters in China are forbidden from publishing critical
reports without the approval of their employer, one of China's top media
regulators said on Wednesday.

The rule comes as the government intensifies a crackdown on freedom of
expression, both online and in traditional media.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television
published the rule in a circular announcing a crackdown on false news and
journalists who take bribes or extort money from their sources.

News agencies must crack down on corruption and journalists who break the
law must be handed over to judicial authorities, the regulator said.
Journalists who violate the rules will be stripped of their license to
report.

Journalists are also forbidden from setting up their own websites, video
sites or writing internal reports with critical content, it added. The
regulator did not specify what constituted critical content or what
particular subjects journalists can not criticise.

The rules also forbid journalists from conducting interviews or writing
reports outside their assigned fields of coverage.

News agencies must regularly solicit opinions from "the masses", as well
as propaganda authorities and other media regulators, including itself, it
said.

The notice listed several scandals in which Chinese newspaper reporters
had reportedly accepted bribes for positive coverage, or forced people to
pay them off to avoid a critical story, saying these incidents made the
regulation necessary.

Media that violated the rules could be stripped of their licenses, it
added.

China adopted tough measures to crack down on online rumours last year,
but critics say the campaign is simply a means to target criticism of the
ruling Communist Party that has chilled political discourse.

China's news media is heavily censored and media organisations need to
obtain licenses from the government before publishing.

State media has been the key vehicle for party propaganda, but reforms
over the past decade have allowed greater commercialisation and some
increase in editorial independence.

(Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Robert Birsel)