Chinese regulators have banned the country’s journalists from sharing information they have obtained on the job with overseas media or publishing it in any venue outside the media they are employed, in a move that critics say will further stifle press freedom.
The regulations, which were detailed in a June 30 document, but released this week, come at a time when Chinese journalists have been accused of using their positions to blackmail. However, the rules will also impact journalists who, frustrated with tight news controls over what they can publish in their own companies, sometimes release information they have obtained to outlets outside mainland China or in social media, such as their personal blogs.
In an explanatory note, the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said those acts have “disturbed the normal news order” and hurt the interest of the Chinese Communist Party as well as China’s national interest.
Invoking laws on national secrecy, intellectual property rights and labor contracts, the press administration said Chinese journalists accredited to work for state media shall not provide information to overseas news outlets as special contributors or release information in venues such as blogs, microblogs, forums or seminars.
Chen Min (陳敏), a former Chinese journalist, said the new rules will “undoubtedly” clamp down on freedom of information in China, where the Chinese government has long maintained tight controls over media outlets, but journalists have sought ways to break down the barriers.
“This in essence is depriving the right of the public to know,” said Chen, who now works as an independent commentator and a visiting academic in Taiwan.
He said Beijing has vaguely defined laws on state secrets, making it easy to punish journalists the government says have overstepped the rules.
“To put it bluntly, you now can only say what’s sanctioned by China’s propaganda officials,” Chen said.
The lack of media freedom is accompanied by an environment where some reporters solicit bribes in return for not running stories that might embarrass a company or person.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese