China's new media regulations, concerning the press cards, will
go into effect on March 1, the General Administration of Press and
Publication, the country's press watchdog, said in Beijing
Wednesday.
Nearly 150,000 journalists throughout the country have so far
received the newly designed press cards.
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According to the relevant stipulations, Chinese reporters should
change their press cards every five years. The work for current
press card change began in November 2003. By January 2005,the
General Administration of Press and Publication had issued 146,541
new press cards.
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Taking advantage of the reissuing of the cards, the government
launched a series of reforms on the making, issuance, checking and
management of press cards.
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The old cards were marked according to the type of media. Reporters
from newspapers, magazines, news agencies, broadcasting stations
and TV stations used to carry different style press cards.
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The practice made it difficult to distinguish phony cards and made
it easy to impersonate a reporter, said an official with the
administration.
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The new cards have nine new counterfeit-proof technologies.
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The cards are all registered in the administration's official
website, press.gapp.gov.cn, allowing interviewees to check the
authenticity of the cards. The new regulations also order reporters
to carry and show press cards on their own initiative in
interviews.
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The regulations also stipulate that government officials should not
hold concurrent posts in local offices of newspapers. The law also
forbids newspaper offices from engaging in commercial
activities.
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The government used the issuing of the new cards to create update
statistics about journalists working in China.
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Of the 150,000 journalists in China, more than 70,000 are writers
for newspapers and magazines. More than 60,000 are from
broadcasting and TV stations and others represent news
agencies.
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Statistics from the General Administration of Press and Publication
show that 98 percent of Chinese journalists have received higher
education; 64 percent joined the occupation after undergraduate
work and 13 percent earned master's degrees.
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According to the statistics, most of the reporters are young and
middle-aged, with those aged between 20 and 30 accounting for 29
percent, those 30 to 40 making up 27 percent and reporters aged40
to 50 accounting for 24 percent.
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Women have hold up the "half sky" of the press, as they account for
41 percent of total reporters. With 1,300 journalists working for
magazines, 700 are women.
(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2005)