Critical reports about the Chinese government have been banned from being published without receiving approval from employers since the State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film declared a crackdown on journalists who they allege to be taking bribes or extorting money from their sources and reporting so-called false news, one of China's top media regulators said on Wednesday.
Reporters in China are facing a strong crackdown on their freedom of expression, both online and in traditional media, after the rule was published in a circular, Reuters reported.
While news agencies have been ordered to crack down on corruption and hand over guilty journalists to judicial authorities, journalists will be stripped off their license to report if they violate the rule, the regulator said.
Setting up websites, video sites or writing critical internal reports has also been forbidden for Chinese journalists. However, the regulator did not specify what constituted as critical content or could be a risky subject.
The rules also ban journalists from conducting interviews or writing reports outside their assigned fields of coverage, according to Reuters.
Opinions from "the masses" must be regularly solicited by news agencies, as well as propaganda authorities and other media regulators, including the Chinese regulator, it said.
"The notice listed several scandals in which Chinese newspaper reporters had reportedly accepted bribes for positive coverage, or forced people to pay them off to avoid a critical story, saying these incidents made the regulation necessary," according to Reuters.
The tough measures to crack down on online rumors in 2013 was seen as the ruling Communist Party's way of silencing any form of criticism.
China's news media is known to be heavily censored, with media organizations being required to obtain licenses from the government before publishing.
Although state media has been the key vehicle for party propaganda, reforms over the past decade have allowed for greater commercialization and an increase in editorial independence.
