SCMP: Beijing orders purge of media

Vivien Pik-Kwan Chan

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

A purge of errant publications and editors has been ordered in a party document issued to tighten mainland censorship in the run-up to the 16th Party Congress in autumn next year. The key document, which spells out curbs on politically incorrect articles and rules on other media restrictions and ownership, is scheduled to come into effect on Sunday, but the measures have already begun, with the closure or temporary suspension of eight publications this month.

"Leaders were alarmed about 'active thinking' among intellectuals recently and feared that critical essays, especially those calling for political reform at the 16th party plenum, would muddle the minds of cadres and the public," said a senior official of the Central Publicity Department, which issued the document with the State Press and Publications Administration.

President Jiang Zemin had ordered the 2,000-word document be circulated to all publications to alert them that offending publications would not be given a second chance, according to sources at the department and administration, who said the measures were the harshest to be adopted to silence critical voices since Mr Jiang became leader.

More publications would be closed when the new rules came into effect, they warned.

The chief editors of 150 key periodicals have been summoned to attend a two-day conference with propaganda chiefs in Beijing from next Monday "to study publicity directions".

There will be a similar conference for chief editors of newspapers in early August after the celebrations of the [party' name omitted] Party's 80th anniversary.

"The meeting with the periodicals' chiefs is more urgent as most of the recent 'political errors' were committed through sensitive articles published in them," the senior official said.

According to the document, publications will be shut permanently without further warning if editors break rules or express opposition to the party line.

"Unlike previous regulations which have three grades of disciplinary action, new measures will no longer allow yellow card warnings or a restructuring of the editorial committee of offending publications. Violators will instead face immediate closure or suspension of licence permanently," the senior official warned.

The internal document also lists several criteria for punishment. Strictly forbidden are: articles and reports speculating on leadership changes or calling for political reforms at the 16th Party Congress, such as a multi-party system; articles and reports violating the "cardinal principles of Marxism"; material contradicting main party and state policies; pornography; violence; material containing military or other state secrets; material threatening social stability or going against Beijing's policies towards ethnic minorities; and fabricated reports.

The rules ban news gathering on major corruption scandals, major criminal cases and human and natural disasters. All publications are required to use only despatches from Xinhua for these items. Selling periodical licences will also be severely punished.

At least eight publications have already been shut or suspended for violating the rules this month.

Among them are Hubei periodical Jinri Mingliu (Today's Celebrities), which published articles on the "Gang of Four", Jiangsu journal the Business Morning Daily, which published a sarcastic piece about Mr Jiang, and Hunan periodical Hunan Shipin (Hunan Food), which published allegedly fabricated reports.

Also censured was the Guangxi Business Daily, which was operated by a private company in violation of government rules, which say all media must be state-owned. The editors and staff of the publications have been disciplined.

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