In a fresh crackdown on the free flow of news, China on Sunday barred foreign media from directly selling their services to Chinese media, routing all news items to be sifted by the state-run Xinhua news agency and warning of stern actions against violators.
BEIJING: In a fresh crackdown on the free flow of news, China on Sunday barred foreign media from directly selling their services to Chinese media, routing all news items to be sifted by the state-run Xinhua news agency and warning of stern actions against violators.
The State Council, China's cabinet has solely authorised Xinhua as the sole agency for the dissemination of news and information in a "sound and orderly manner," the agency said in a report.
"Xinhua News Agency, as China's state news agency, is the legally authorised institution to exercise unified administration over the release of news and information in China by foreign news agencies," it said.
With 22 articles, the new regulation has repealed an earlier set of rules issued in 1996.
According to the decision of the State Council, foreign news agencies shall be subject to approval by Xinhua news agency for releasing their news and information in China, and shall have entities designated by Xinhua act as their agents.
Foreign news agencies shall not directly solicit subscription of their news and information services in China, it said. Of late, major foreign news agencies were attempting to sell their services directly to the tightly-controlled Chinese media, raising concerns among the authorities.
The measures state that news and information released in China by foreign news agencies shall not violate the basic principles enshrined in the constitution of the country, undermine China's national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, endanger China's national security and violate its religious policies or preach evil cults.
The foreign news reports should not incite hatred and discrimination among ethnic groups, undermine their unity, infringe upon their customs and habits or hurt their feelings, spread false information, disrupt China's economic and social order, or undermine China's social stability, it said.
Xinhua said it has the right to select the news and information released by foreign news agencies in China and shall delete any materials mentioned in the items above.
"To subscribe to news and information services of foreign news agencies, a user in China shall sign a subscription agreement with a designated entity and shall not, by any means, directly subscribe to, translate, edit or publish the news and information released by a foreign news agency," the new rules said.
In using news and information from a foreign news agency, the user in China shall clearly indicate the sources and shall not transfer them to another party in any form, it said.
The measures also specify penalties for violations in the releasing, distributing or using of news and information from a foreign news agency in China.
If a foreign news agency violates the new rules, for example, Xinhua News Agency shall give it a warning, demand rectification within a prescribed time limit, suspend its release of specified content, suspend or cancel its qualifications for releasing news and information in China.
These measures shall be applied mutatis mutandis to release of news and information on the mainland by news agencies and other news and information releasing entities of the nature of a news agency in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan, the report said.
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