The Information Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) jointly issued the provisional regulations on governance of Internet-based news providers on November 6.
The regulations elaborate on that the Information Office will be in charge of the management of all websites engaged in news dissemination in China
Internet sites run by media organizations at the central government and provincial government levels may publish news, but only after obtaining approval from the Information Office.
Other media organizations may not set up independent news sites, but they may, upon approval, set up news pages at the websites run by the above-mentioned approved media organizations.
If commercial portal sites run by non-news organizations wish to carry news, they may do so only after obtaining permission. After gaining approval, they may only publish news provided by officially approved news organizations.
The rules stipulate that such commercial portals may not carry any news items based on their own interviews or from other sources. Other commercial sites run by non-news organizations are not allowed to carry news of any kind.
The regulations further stipulate that no China-based websites will be allowed to link to overseas news websites or carry news from overseas news media or websites, without separate approval by the State Council Information Office.
Commercial websites that wish to carry news must first sign cooperative agreements with authorized news outlets. A copy of these agreements must be filed with the Information Office.
Internet sites that are already engaged in news dissemination have 60 days to comply with the new regulations.
(People’s Daily 11/07/2000)
