[Dewayne-Net] China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media

Dewayne Hendricks dewayne at warpspeed.com
Mon Sep 26 11:40:25 PDT 2005


on the Internet
Reply-To: dewayne at warpspeed.com


[Note:  This item comes from reader John McMullen.  DLH]


>From: "John F. McMullen" <observer at westnet.com>
>Date: September 25, 2005 10:58:53 PM PDT
>To: "johnmac's living room" <johnmacsgroup at yahoogroups.com>
>Cc: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne at warpspeed.com>, Dave Farber
><farber at cis.upenn.edu>
>Subject: China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media on the
>Internet
>
>
>From the New York Times -- <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/
>international/asia/26china.html?
>ex=1285387200&en=38ac65b7be2e2b9b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss>
>
>China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media on the Internet
>By JOSEPH KAHN
>
>BEIJING, Sept. 25 - China on Sunday imposed more restrictions
>intended to limit the news and other information available to
>Internet users, and it sharply restricted the scope of content
>permitted on Web sites.
>
>The rules are part of a broader effort to roll back what the
>Communist Party views as a threatening trend toward liberalization
>in the news media. Taken together, the measures amount to a stepped-
>up effort to police the Internet, which has become a dominant
>source of news and information for millions of urban Chinese.
>
>Major search engines and portals like Sina.com and Sohu.com, used
>by millions of Chinese each day, must stop posting their own
>commentary articles and instead make available only opinion pieces
>generated by government-controlled newspapers and news agencies,
>the regulations stipulate.
>
>The rules also state that private individuals or groups must
>register as "news organizations" before they can operate e-mail
>distribution lists that spread news or commentary. Few individuals
>or private organizations are likely to be allowed to register as
>news organizations, meaning they can no longer legally distribute
>information by e-mail.
>
>Existing online news sites, like those run by newspapers or
>magazines, must "give priority" to news and commentary pieces
>distributed by the leading national and provincial news organs.
>
>This restriction on the ability of Web sites to republish articles
>produced by the huge array of news organizations that do not fall
>under direct government control seems intended to ensure that the
>Propaganda Department has time to filter content generated by local
>publications before it can be widely disseminated on the Internet.
>
>The new rules are the first major update to policies on Internet
>news and opinion since 2000.
>
>"The foremost responsibility of news sites on the Internet is to
>serve the people, serve socialism, guide public opinion in the
>right direction, and uphold the interests of the country and the
>public good," the regulations state.
>
>Although Chinese authorities have already effectively unlimited
>powers to control the gathering and publication of news, the
>Propaganda Department has sometimes struggled to censor information
>about delicate developments before it circulates on the Internet.
>
>About 100 million Chinese now have access to the Internet. Though
>the government closely monitors domestic content and blocks what
>officials consider to be subversive Web sites from overseas, savvy
>users can obtain domestic and overseas information that never
>appears in China's traditional news media.
>
>By the time officials have decided that a topic might prove harmful
>to the governing party's agenda, an item about it has often already
>been posted or discussed on hundreds of sites and viewed by many
>people, defeating some traditional censorship tools.
>
>Experts who follow the Internet say one of the most significant
>changes is the ban on self-generated opinion and commentary
>articles that accompany the standard state-issued news bulletins on
>major portal sites.
>

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