"We
need to better regulate the online news services with the emergence
of so many unhealthy news stories that will easily mislead the
public," a spokesman with the information office told the China
Daily.
Those sites that do not comply could be fined or closed
down.
The new rules, announced by the Xinhua news agency, also oblige
news site operators to register with the State Council Information
Office. News sites that publish only their own stories can register
with provincial information offices instead.
According to Wired News, the agency warned that only "healthy
and civilized news and information that is beneficial to the
improvement of the quality of the nation, beneficial to its
economic development and conducive to social progress" will be
permitted.
What this means in practice is unclear.
China has a reputation for cracking down on dissent, and has
been gradually extending its control over the internet. Foreign
news sites are often blocked, home-grown dissenting web pages
quickly vanish from computer screens and search terms such as
“equality”, “Tibet” and “Taiwan” give very different results when
entered in China compared to other countries.
According to Reporters Without Borders, which lobbies for press
freedom, “These new rules, announced with a fanfare by the official
media, are certainly more intended to frighten internet-users than
to codify the use of the net.”
Commenting on the rules on its website, the rights group said
that there was nothing really new in the restrictions, but that
“these moves to filter the internet are nevertheless a sign that
the internet frightens those in power, in particular during a
period of ever greater social unrest.”
