China Bans Foreign Broadcast News

(Beijing) It should surprise no one that the ChiComs have established guidelines for television and radio which mandate that foreign news service broadcasts are prohibited. The country may be dabbling in a bit of capitalism but, first and foremost, China is a communist police state. I'd suggest that departure from the guidelines will be considered crimes carrying severe penalties.

From UPI.com:

From now on, local broadcasters must restrict their coverage of overseas events to reports generated by state-run China Central Television and China Radio International.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, in a notice on its Web site, warned news broadcasters to "strengthen their political sensitivity" and avoid using footage taken from international satellite services, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday.

"Recently, some overseas news services and media have used various methods to sell international news material to domestic stations, and the reports have a clear political intention," the administration said.

The media watchdog said the rule was designed to "ensure a healthy and orderly development of international TV news reporting and maintain a correct propaganda direction."

It's assumed that not all international news providers are unacceptable since some have established track records showing compatibility with "a correct propaganda direction." Consequently, broadcasters in China will likely not be prohibited from showing the customary news reporting of Al-Jazeera, CNN and the BBC.

Notably, the action against foreign broadcast news sources follows closely on last week's announcement that China is placing prohibitions on foreign magazines.