A new regulation on online news services was issued jointly on Sunday by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and the Ministry of Information Industry. Under this regulation, online news sites that publish fabricated content, pornography or violence face severe punishment or even closure.

A spokesman for the SCIO said at a press conference on Sunday: "We need to better regulate the online news services with the emergence of so many unhealthy news stories that will easily mislead the public".

Online news services that have bulletin board systems (BBS) or provide short message service (SMS) notifications are also subject to the regulation.

The regulation also spells out that media attached to the central government or directly under provincial governments are not allowed to provide any stories to other online news sites without approval.

In fact, a temporary regulation on online news services was published as early as in November 2000. But the spokesman said: "It has lagged far behind the development of online news services in terms of technology, content and form. So it is necessary to have an updated version".

According to the Temporary Regulation of Internet Publishing Management, the following contents are prohibited in Internet publishing:

1.         Information that goes against the basic principles set out in the Constitution;

2.         Information that endangers national unification, sovereignty and territorial integrity;

3.         Information that divulges state secrets, endangers national security, or is detrimental to the honor and interests of the State;

4.         Information that incites hatred or discrimination among nationalities, harms the unity of the nationalities or destroys the customs of nationalities;

5.         Information that preaches the teachings of evil cults or that promotes feudalistic and superstitious beliefs;

6.         Information that disseminates rumors, disturbs social order, or undermines social stability;

7.         Information that spreads pornography; promotes gambling, violence, or instigates crimes;

8.         Information that insults or slanders other people, or infringes upon other people's legitimate rights and interests;

9.         Information that endangers social morality or national cultures and traditions; and/or

10.     Any other information as prohibited by law, administrative regulations, or national regulations.

The public is encouraged to help information departments at all levels to supervise news sites. Anyone who comes across unhealthy online stories can file a report at http://net.china.cn.

(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2005)