Article,
Media regulation - The new rules about online video in China
Danwei.org, (January 20080104)
Abstract
In the last few days of 2007, two government ministries, SARFT and
MII, announced a new set of rules to govern online video websites
like Tudou,com, Youku.com, 56.com and other Youtube clones.
On December 29, Beijing-based telcoms consulting firm Marbridge published
an English translation of the rules (original Chinese version here).
On January 2, Kaiser Kuo posted these thoughts on the Digital Watch
blog:
My gut take on this is that it’s more about holding these video sharing
and P2P companies responsible for naughty content than about trying
to shake- or shut down the industry.
This makes sense and is consistent with Internet regulatory patterns
of the last few years.
This morning the mainstream media has picked up on the story, and
Google News counts 222 different stories about the new laws. Many
of the stories are guilty of rather gross simplifications, such as
this story on staid old Bloomberg, whose reporters seem to have been
told to sex up their China coverage:
China to Limit Web Broadcasting to State Operators
China, which outlaws criticism of the state, will ban Web sites that
aren't run by the government from broadcasting video or radio over
the Internet.
Nonetheless, there is concern within China that the laws will destroy
an industry in its infancy. David Bandurski of the China Media Project
has summarized Chinese criticism of the rules (and censorship of
such criticism) in the Oriental Morning Post and Southern Weekly:
Internet censors move to quiet debate on new online video and audio
regulations.
Tags for this entry:
* media business,
* media regulation,
* MII,
* SARFT,
* video,
