Chinese law could fine disaster reporting
A Chinese law imposing fines on media that report emergencies such as riots and natural disasters without official approval could go into effect by October, the government said Tuesday, as a rights group urged Beijing to scrap it. Critics said the proposed law raised concerns over journalists’ right to report on matters of public interest. News organisations that report on emergencies without authorisation or issue fraudulent reports would be fined between EUR 5,000 and EUR 10,000 under the draft law, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The legislation defines emergencies as industrial accidents, natural disasters, health and public security crisis. The draft law was discussed Monday by Chinese lawmakers in the first of three planned legislative hearings. Xinhua quoted an official with the Legislative Office under the State Council as saying the draft law, which has been under revision since 2003, was ‘not aimed at controlling the media.’ ‘The focus is on banning the release of false or bias news reports,’ the report quoted Li Yuede as saying. ‘If the report did not contain detailed information, it would cause public concern.’ (AP, Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, June 27, 2006)
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China’s media clampdown law is still in the proposal stage and the way things work in China, the longer it stays in that stage, and the more it is talked about, the less likely it is to be enacted. The silver lining in all of this is that this proposed law is increasing Chinese importance of press freedom. If this law ends up not being enacted (and I think that is a real possibility) its proposal and subsequent failure will end up being a good thing for freedom of the press in China.
Comment by China Law Blog — July 3, 2006 @ 1:01 am
[…] Uh-huh. Incidently, I had to read into the article for eight paragraphs before the author mentions the city where the G8 Summit is to be held, its St. Petersburg. From Russia we go to China, There the Chinese may be able to do what George hasn’t managed to do, yet. From the Article: A Chinese law imposing fines on media that report emergencies such as riots and natural disasters without official approval could go into effect by October, the government said Tuesday, as a rights group urged Beijing to scrap it. Critics said the proposed law raised concerns over journalists’ right to report on matters of public interest. News organisations that report on emergencies without authorisation or issue fraudulent reports would be fined between EUR 5,000 and EUR 10,000 under the draft law, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The legislation defines emergencies as industrial accidents, natural disasters, health and public security crisis. The draft law was discussed Monday by Chinese lawmakers in the first of three planned legislative hearings. Xinhua quoted an official with the Legislative Office under the State Council as saying the draft law, which has been under revision since 2003, was ‘not aimed at controlling the media.’ ‘The focus is on banning the release of false or bias news reports,’ the report quoted Li Yuede as saying. ‘If the report did not contain detailed information, it would cause public concern.’ […]
Pingback by …And the fun NEVER Stops! - Head-On Headlines — July 3, 2006 @ 4:54 am