Chinese province clamps new rules to regulate media

A Chinese province has clamped 10 new rules to regulate media including publication of news items on national security, publishing reports without official verification and paid news coverage, in a move to further tighten the grip on the state media.
Hunan Province's media watchdog and state-run Journalists' Association have jointly released 10 rules regulating media workers' conduct in an effort to preserve the reputation of the press and to tackle proliferation of false information and paid news coverage, state-run Global Times reported.
It included regulations on media workers' political stance, professional behaviour and economic interests.
The regulations warrant the media professionals against publishing information or rumours from the Internet before verifying them.

Media should not publish news stories declaring any parties guilty before the courts pass judgment, it said.
Analysts say these stipulations could help crack down on rampant Internet rumours.

Though both print and television media expanded rapidly in recent years, it still remains largely government controlled.
The state media, however, has been challenged by the rapid growth of social media. Chinamobileinternetconnections have reached 594 million, the highest in the world.
He Hui, an expert from the Public Relations and Public Opinion Institute of the Communication University of China, said that"the regulations have arisen from the government's need to enhance management of journalism andfrom the industry's need for better self-discipline. Paid coverage and the publication of online rumors have been long-standing issues, and strengthening related management could reduce such behaviors to some extent."

Media workers should not reveal or seek profit from information they obtain by taking advantage of their duties, including national or trade secrets, or information violating an individual's privacy, the regulations said.
They also ban media from making personal profit through blackmail, using news coverage as a means of reprisal, writing news stories for payment from non-media parties and arranging interviews without possessing a journalist certificate.
The regulations also ask that media workers not report on news that jeopardises national security, affects social stability, goes against common moral standards, goes against the public interest, the worship of money and hedonism.

However, analysts said that the regulations may have a limited effect since there are no national journalism laws.
Mongolian Foreign Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil said Tuesday
that Mongolia will not allow the Dalai Lama to visit the country, even in the name of religion, "thus settling a one-month standoff between Mongolia and China", it said.
"But a long lingering issue behind it all is how India should handle its relationship with the Dalai Lama," it said, referring to the Tibetan leader's presence at the opening session of Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit at President house presided over by President Pranab Mukherjee.

China also objected to that saying India has went ahead with the invitation to Dalai Lama despite China's protests.
External Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup responded saying that "India's position is consistent. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a respected spiritual leader. It was a non political event which he attended."
However, the article said"New Delhi has long held the Dalai Lama issue as leverage that it can use against China. President Mukherjee met with the Tibetan separatist in exile in India this month, probably as moral support to Mongolia, which mired itself in diplomatic trouble after receiving the Dalai Lama in November."

China earlier objected over India granting permission to the Dalai Lama and another Tibetan spiritual leader in exile Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje to Arunachal Pradesh.
"After China initiated countermeasures, including cancelling investment talks and imposing additional tolls on Mongolian cargo passing through Chinese territory, the Mongolians later tried to seek support from India, hoping that by allying with China's competitor, Beijing would be forced to give in," the article said.
"New Delhi expressed its concerns about Mongolia's well-being, and vaguely pledged to put into effect a credit line of USD one billion it promised to Mongolia in 2015. However, before India's bureaucrats could start, Ulaanbaatar caved in to the reality," it said.

It said that India's "way of dealing with the issue shows, once again, the gap between its ambition and its strength. It is way beyond India's capability to acquire leverage against China by employing a proxy or challenging China's bottom line. India has used the Dalai Lama card from time to time in a retaliatory move against China."
"India wants to disturb China's pace of development by taking advantage of China's national and international problems, most of which have nothing to do with India's national interests," it said.