China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

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LadyTevar
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China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

Post by LadyTevar »

BBC news wrote: BBC Technology

The Chinese government has issued new regulations tightening its control over online news content.
Companies that publish, share or edit news will need a government licence, and senior editors must be approved by the authorities.
Other staff will be required to undergo government training and assessment, and receive official accreditation.
The legislation will bring online news providers into line with traditional news media operating in the country.
From 1 June, when the rules come into force, they will be expected to follow "information security protocols", including "emergency response" measures such as increased vetting following disasters, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
In a statement published online, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said the new rules would "strengthen management of information" and "promote the healthy and orderly development of internet news, in accordance to law".

Public interest
The list of providers and platforms covered includes "websites, applications, forums, blogs, microblogs, public accounts, instant messaging tools and internet broadcasts".
Organisations that do not have a licence will not be allowed to post news or commentary about the government, economy, military, foreign affairs, or "other areas of public interest".
Editorial and business operations must be kept separate.
Only publicly funded organisations will be able to carry out their own reporting.
Chinese outlets will not be allowed to enter joint ventures with foreign partners, or accept foreign funding, until they have a passed a security assessment carried out by the government's State Council Information Office.
Companies that fail to comply will have their licences withdrawn and face fines of up to 30,000 yuan ($4,350: £3,370).
Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many foreign news websites are banned in China.

Analysis: Kerry Allen, BBC Monitoring
This most recent regulation from the Chinese state will make it more difficult for business media in the mainland to stay competitive.
Many outlets are independent and operate online.
It has already been problematic for staff from such organisations to obtain press cards to events - but financial websites such as Caijing and Caixin Online have traditionally been able to secure strong followings online because of their credible investigative journalism, and their articles are often shared through popular news portals.
But in recent months, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has made increased efforts to tighten online media regulation - particularly as live streaming and video blogging becomes a popular means of telling news.
In July 2016, it fined and disciplined a number of news portals for sharing independent news stories.
The following month, the CAC introduced rules for users of live streaming platforms to be monitored full-time, and in December of the same year, the CAC announced that all live streaming users needed a permit.
In Other News: China has announced they will be launching their own, Government-sponsored, version of Wikipedia in 2018.
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mr friendly guy
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

Post by mr friendly guy »

Can BBC link to the original xinhua article?

A quick glance at Xinhua's english edition doesn't reveal any article talking about internet or online content as I type this.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/list/c ... litics.htm

Frankly BBC on China is a pile of horse shit, so I am going to wait for more information. I mean these are the guys that said China banned time travel shows (and it was posted on SDN to boot) then a few months later I saw a time travel show in China despite you know, time travel being banned and all. These are the guys that describe knife attacks on Chinese civilians by separatists as anything but terrorism, but a knife attack against British soldier Lee Rigby by Muslim extremists totally is. And the creme de la creme from BBC. When China stops elected HK politicians from taking their seats because they refuse to swear loyalty to the country (the refusal to swear loyalty as reported by BBC), its then spun as an attack on free speech and democracy a few days later by BBC.

While I won't be surprised that China does some form of regulation, I need specifics.
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

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I've found a bunch of articles stating basically the same thing, all citing a statement from the "Cyberspace Administration of China." Weirdly, I can't get past their English front page without some sort of login.

On the subject, can one yet google Tiananmen Square in China?
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

Post by Ralin »

Gandalf wrote: On the subject, can one yet google Tiananmen Square in China?
Google and Google services have been completely blocked for a good three years or so now. So no.
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

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Gandalf wrote:I've found a bunch of articles stating basically the same thing, all citing a statement from the "Cyberspace Administration of China." Weirdly, I can't get past their English front page without some sort of login.
I remember when China was accused of regulating what sort of dances its citizens can do in the public square (to deal with the problem of noise and disturbing other people from so called "dancing grannies") down to telling the people what specific dance routines you're allowed to do. Puzzled I back track a few of these articles and they do link to various English edition sources from Chinese news. Almost all you would have to have a very uncharitable interpretation of what was said to interpret it in the manner western media described. Basically instead of these are the times you are allowed to dance to avoid disturbing other people, and by the way we have some dance routines we think are good for health, to you must dance in these routines. When the Chinese authorities denied the western media interpretation, guess how this was spun by a particular media source which IIRC turned out to be affliliated with the Huffington Post.

I wished I was making this up - it was described as people power makes Chinese government back down. :lol: You would think the CCP aren't semi competent autocrats with an ideal of making China great againTM to moustache twirling villains whose masterplan is to tell its people how to dance.

Its stuff like this combined with the fact Australian schools actually taught us to be sceptical of the media that makes me very suspicious when they report about a geopolitical rival. Its just that China is something I know a little bit about, but I could be more easily misled when they talk about say, Russia or Iran, countries which I don't know too much about.

Frankly, BBC is a bad offender in regards to China, especially with their current China editor. Not all BBC reporters suck, some are fair even though they criticise China. Some are just outright dishonest. Like James "Beijing is covering up Olympic torch protests" Reynolds. :D
On the subject, can one yet google Tiananmen Square in China?
No.
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

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Reuters (more at the link) here
China on Tuesday issued tighter rules for online news portals and network providers, the latest step in President Xi Jinping's push to secure the internet and maintain strict party control over content.

Xi has made China's "cyber sovereignty" a top priority in his sweeping campaign to bolster security. He has also reasserted the ruling Communist Party's role in limiting and guiding online discussion.

The new regulations, released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on its website, extend restrictions on what news can be produced and distributed by online platforms, requiring all services to be managed by party-sanctioned editorial staff.

The rules, which come into effect on June 1, apply to all political, economic, military, or diplomatic reports or opinion articles on blogs, websites, forums, search engines, instant messaging apps and all other platforms that select or edit news and information, the administration said.

All such platforms must have editorial staff who are approved by the national or local government internet and information offices, while their workers must get training and reporting credentials from the central government, it said.


Editorial work must be separate from business operations and only public funds can be used to pay for any work, it added.

Under the rules, editorial guidance measures used for the mainstream media will be applied to online providers to ensure they too adhere to the party line, such as requiring "emergency response" measures to increase vetting of content after disasters.

The rules also stipulate that a domestic business that wants to set up a joint venture with a foreign partner, or accept foreign funding, must be assessed by the State Internet Information Office.
If you go to the official website you can see the statements linked but you cannot access them without a password.

I see no reason to dispute reuters here, which would lead credence to the OP.


EDIT: And the president made similar remarks to the one in the OP as well link.
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

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So any place relating news stories (like here) needs to have state approval to be seen in China?

Wow.
"Oh no, oh yeah, tell me how can it be so fair
That we dying younger hiding from the police man over there
Just for breathing in the air they wanna leave me in the chair
Electric shocking body rocking beat streeting me to death"

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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

Post by K. A. Pital »

Gandalf wrote:So any place relating news stories (like here) needs to have state approval to be seen in China?

Wow.
I am not sure one can even implement such rules in practice. Even the Great Firewall can only block so much.
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Gandalf
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

Post by Gandalf »

K. A. Pital wrote:
Gandalf wrote:So any place relating news stories (like here) needs to have state approval to be seen in China?

Wow.
I am not sure one can even implement such rules in practice. Even the Great Firewall can only block so much.
That's what has me so puzzled. Does the government even expect this to work?
"Oh no, oh yeah, tell me how can it be so fair
That we dying younger hiding from the police man over there
Just for breathing in the air they wanna leave me in the chair
Electric shocking body rocking beat streeting me to death"

- A.B. Original, Report to the Mist

"I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."
- George Carlin
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Re: China Announces Tighter Internet News Rules

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It probably is not something they want to enforce, they just want to have something that can easily justify any prosecution. These laws are not meant to be enforceable, they are meant to be tools of oppression they can wield against whoever they want to silence.
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