China Sets New Rules On Internet News

auckland map writes "China set new regulations on Internet news content which ban the spreading of any news with content that is against national security and public interest. Established news media needed permission to run a news Web site, while new operators had to register themselves with government information offices. This move further widens a campaign of controls Chinese government has imposed on web sites, communication, leisure and businesses." From the article: "The state bans the spreading of any news with content that is against national security and public interest ... [internet news sites] must be directed toward serving the people and socialism and insist on correct guidance of public opinion for maintaining national and public interests."

Comments

More infrmation on the story:

[TripMaster Monkey]

The Reuters copy is a bit spotty in its coverage...more information can be found here, here, and here.

Interesting quote from the third source listed above:

Under the new regulations, Internet news sites are encouraged to report news that is "healthy" and promotes economic and social progress, Xinhua said. In addition, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported that any news Web site that reports "false or distorted information" will be fined up to 30,000 renminbi (US$3,701) under the new guidelines.

Before anyone brings it up...

[gamer4Life]

China is NOT a "communist" country.

They have an authoritarian government with a capitalist economic system. "State capitalist" is the more correct term. (authoritarian states are not necessarily communist, although the reverse is generally true).

This may be offtopic, but usually the conversation always manages to drift towards this anyways regardless of the original topic.