Chinese reporters and editors who fabricate stories or take
bribes will face stern punishments, including confiscation of their
press cards and a five-year banishment from reporting, according to
an announcement made on Tuesday.
A provisional regulation recently issued by the Publicity
Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
China, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and
the General Administration of Press and Publication, aims at
"maintaining justice, authenticity and objectivity in news
reporting."
The regulation forbids reporters and editors from taking
advantage of their positions to seek illicit benefits or accept
gifts that might influence their writing. They are also prohibited
from operating businesses or taking concurrent jobs at other
organizations.
Journalists who accept bribes to report unfairly or who write
stories with false information can have their press cards revoked
and be barred from news writing for five years. Those who are
convicted of crimes will be expelled from the press corps for
life.
The regulation forbids reporters, editors, producers,
anchorpersons and announcers from getting involved in advertising
deals and from forcing interviewees to subscribe to their
newspapers or periodicals or to buy ads by threatening to slant a
story.
Reporters are also required to carry and show press cards on
their own initiative at interviews. People who impersonate
reporters will be subject to severe penalties.
By January, the General Administration of Press and Publication
had issued 146,541 new press cards, hoping to curb the rampant use
of phony cards.
The provisional regulation is part of a series of changes being
made in media administration. New regulations concerning press
cards and regional newspaper offices went into effect on March
1.
China has about 150,000 journalists. More than 70,000 write for
newspapers and magazines and about 60,000 are in broadcasting. The
remainder work for news agencies such as Xinhua.
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2005)