海角大神

The noose around Chinese journalists鈥� necks grew even tighter this week, with the announcement of new rules forbidding them from publishing sensitive information on their private blogs or passing it to foreign media.

The move stiffened controls over reporters, already among the most strictly muzzled in the world, as the Chinese government steps up a campaign to limit freedom of expression.

New regulations issued by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Film, Radio, and Television bar reporters from revealing 鈥渟tate secrets, commercial secrets, and information that has not been publicly disclosed鈥� on pain of prosecution.

The catch-all rules do not define what is meant by 鈥渟ecret鈥� information, meaning that this is open to interpretation by the authorities. China鈥檚 state secrets law allows information to be designated a secret retroactively.

Chinese reporters who dig up stories that their publications deem too sensitive to run sometimes post them on their personal blogs, or pass them to other domestic or foreign media. The new rules oblige reporters to sign confidentiality agreements with their employers that forbid them from doing that.

The announcement said the rules were designed to 鈥渢ruly strengthen the management of information鈥� and 鈥渆nsure that the use of information obtained in the course of press personnel鈥檚 professional duties is scientific and rational, standardized and orderly.鈥�

A prominent dissident journalist, Gao Yu, was arrested on May 30聽on a charge of 鈥渋llegally disseminating state secrets overseas鈥� for having allegedly passed a 鈥渢op secret document鈥� to a foreign website.

The document is believed to have been an internal Communist party memorandum outlining seven 鈥減erils鈥� for the party, including 鈥淲estern constitutional democracy,鈥� 鈥渦niversal values,鈥� and 鈥渘ihilist鈥� criticisms of the party鈥檚 past.

Last month, the State Administration on Press and Publication forbade reporters from writing critical reports without prior approval from their employers.

鈥淚 can feel the tension of our daily work rising,鈥� says one Chinese journalist who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. 鈥淭he authorities are strengthening their control over us because they do not have much trust in journalists. We have to be very careful. In the past there were also many limitations but we still dared to push from time to time. Nowadays we do not dare to push anymore.鈥�

Since President Xi Jinping came to power last year, his government has launched a fierce assault on freedom of expression; censorship has grown stricter, government critics have seen their social media accounts canceled, and bloggers risk jail for posting 鈥渞umors鈥� that get reposted too often.

Earlier this year, China鈥檚 250,000 accredited journalists were told that they would have to pass an exam in Marxist news values before their journalistic licenses would be renewed. Answers to the questions could be found in a 700-page manual explaining such principles as 鈥渋t is absolutely forbidden for published reports to feature any comments that contradict the party line鈥� and 鈥渢he relationship between the party and the news media is that of the leader and the led.鈥�

The new rules also ban 鈥減ress personnel鈥� from 鈥渢aking posts such as special correspondent鈥�or columnist for foreign media.鈥�

Initial suggestions that this might oblige media such as The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg to stop publishing the contributions of their Chinese columnists, and make news agencies such as Reuters fire the scores of Chinese employees who work in their Beijing bureaus, appear unfounded, however.

The freelance columnists are not accredited journalists but analysts such as bank economists or business consultants, while Chinese employees of Western media organizations may do journalistic work but are technically considered to be researchers, and do not have official Chinese journalistic licenses. They do not appear to fall within the purview of the new regulations, though the spokesman for the State Administration for Press and Publication did not respond to a request for clarification.

鈥淚 do not think these rules are aimed at us,鈥� says an executive at one Western news organization in Beijing, 鈥渂ut they are very troubling. They are just the latest in a very ominous series of efforts to limit Chinese journalists鈥� room for maneuver.鈥�

China ranked 175^th聽out of 179 nations in this year鈥檚 press freedom rankings by the Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Frontiers. Chinese censors ordered all news of that result to be removed from Chinese websites.