On June 24, draft legislation was presented to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress — China’s rubber-stamp law-making body — that would require reporters to ask for official permission before reporting on incidents of “spontaneous outbreaks”. Formally such outbreaks include natural disasters, industrial accidents, public health crises and “incidents of public security”, but it is believed that the proposed law is likely to target industrial actions and public protests, as well as critiques of the authorities’ handling of disasters and accidents. The June 27 People’s Daily quoted from the draft law: “News media that irregularly reports the development and handling of emergency without authorisation or releases fraudulent reports will be fined 50,000 yuan (or US$6250) and 100,000 yuan, if the reports lead to serious consequences.” According to a July 4 BBC report, the proposed law will also apply to journalists from foreign and Hong Kong media.

From Green Left Weekly, July 19, 2006.
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