[IP] China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media on the Internet
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 26, 2005 11:40:25 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media
on the Internet
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Note: This item comes from reader John McMullen. DLH]
From: "John F. McMullen" <observer@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 25, 2005 10:58:53 PM PDT
To: "johnmac's living room" <johnmacsgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dave Farber
<farber@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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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