Chinese media reporters will be included in the annual assessment of information and speech on the Internet, and those who supposedly fail will not pass the “annual verification” and will lose their status as journalists.
China’s restrictions on speech extend to media journalists. On Tuesday (19), the State Press and Publication Administration issued a notice on the annual verification of journalists’ cards for 2020, requiring news organizations to conduct annual verification of journalists’ cards from Jan. 20 to March 19 this year.
The scope of the verification specified in the above Notice includes press cards of newspapers, news periodicals, radio stations, television stations, news and film studios, news websites, county media centers and other news organizations. In addition to verifying whether the journalist complies with the statutory license, whether “compliance with the law”, more importantly, “in the capacity of journalists to open microblogs, WeChat and other self-media, unauthorized release of information on official acts and other issues are included in the focus of the verification of the press card.”
Wang Liang, a Beijing-based media personality, said in an interview with the station that many media reporters are dissatisfied with the news they cannot publish in the media, so they publish it in their personal microblogs, WeChat and other self-media, a move by the authorities that cuts off the channels for media reporters to publish information: “Controlling journalists’ speech, many journalists cannot publish what they want to publish in the media, so they publish it through microblogs and WeChat. This is the need to control the speech. Because after all, journalists in this society belongs to have the right to speak relatively a little more than ordinary people’s profession, he (official) on the one hand not only strictly control the professional remarks of journalists, and even journalists’ private remarks should also be strictly controlled.”
China’s General Administration of International Press and Publication issued a notice that journalists’ online speech is included in the annual assessment. (Web screenshot)
Auditing past remarks and work performance
In the next two months, the authorities will verify the remarks of all media journalists from the central government to the county level. This includes whether the holder of the press card is a member of the press unit’s establishment or is officially employed to work full-Time in a news-gathering position; whether there are non-gathering positions such as party affairs, administration, advertising, distribution, business, or staff of party and government agencies, and whether there are any uncancelled press cards of people who have left, left, or retired from their jobs.
The key is: whether there is an unauthorized journalist position to open microblogging, WeChat and other self-media, unauthorized release of information on the conduct of duties and other issues; whether to participate in the relevant training; whether there is news extortion, paid news and other “media for personal gain” and the fabrication and dissemination of false news and other issues; whether there is a licensee was sentenced to criminal punishment.
Wang Liang, a media person, said he used to work in the official media has also encountered institutional audit, but the official did not include it in the administrative provisions as today: “In fact, there were also before, such as journalists, media practitioners, some of their private statements were included in the assessment of the journalist career, but has not been institutionalized, this time basically belongs to the institutionalization. “
Journalists may not use self media to send information
Guangzhou dissident Wang Aizhong believes that this new measure by the authorities is just a continued tightening of the control of speech: “This is obviously an extension of the control of the press Shen. In the past, the control was mainly on the news media, but not on the self-published media run by individual journalists. Then they (journalists) can put some information through the self-media release, and now he extended to the press practitioners private self-media release area. I’m afraid this will be more severe for the future information blockade.”
Wang Aizhong said the authorities’ move was also expected, as evidenced by the fact that many people are currently restricted from giving interviews to foreign media.
Recent Comments