Ｉt is absolutely not permitted to feature any comments that go against the party line

Chinese journalists face Marxist ideology exam
Exam to be based on 700-page manual that prohibits published reports from featuring comments that go against party line
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Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing and agencies
theguardian.com, Thursday 19 December 2013 12.13 GMT

Chinese journalists will have to pass a new ideology exam early next year to keep their press cards, in what reporters say is another example of the ruling Communist party's increasing control over the media under President Xi Jinping.


It is the first time reporters have been required to take such a test en masse, state media have said. The exam will be based on a 700-page manual peppered with directives such as "it is absolutely not permitted for published reports to feature any comments that go against the party line", and "the relationship between the party and the news media is one of leader and the led".

Some reporters say the impact of the increased control in the past year has been chilling. "The tightening is very obvious in newspapers that have an impact on public opinion," a journalist at a current affairs magazine said. "These days there are lots of things they aren't allowed to report."






Traditionally, Chinese state media have been the key vehicle for party propaganda. But reforms over the past decade that have allowed greater media commercialisation and limited increases in editorial independence, combined with the rise of social media, have weakened government control, according to academics.









Some reporters and academics, however, trace the start of the tougher attitude to a strike lasting several days in January by journalists at an outspoken newspaper, the Southern Weekly, after censors scrapped a new year editorial calling for China to enshrine constitutional rights. Xi had taken over the Communist party only several weeks earlier。

中国で記者対象にイデオロギー試験実施へ、メディア規制強化の一環か
2013年 12月 19日 16:42 JST 記事を印刷する | ブックマーク | 1ページに表示