China to censor online videos
BEIJING (AFP) - Online videos, an increasingly popular form of independent media, will face new censorship restrictions in China, state media said.
Websites which broadcast short films will need approval from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television when regulations are issued in late August or September, Xinhua news agency said.
Only the well-known Chinese-language portals -- Sina, Sohu and Netease -- have been pre-approved by the administration as authorized providers of online videos.
The shorts, often parodies of classic movies or events in everyday life, have quickly grown in popularity on the Internet in China as elsewhere around the world.
However they have stirred controversy in China about morality and intellectual property rights protection, Xinhua said.
In one case deemed controversial by authorities, a 10-minute video used clips from a 1974 patriotic film about the Chinese revolution, "Sparkling Red Star". But it converted the heroic boy in the movie to a would-be pop star who competes in a television singing contest.
The parody also substitutes the evil landowner who brutally exploited tenants to a foolish judge taking backdoor bribes, and changes the boy's father from a Red Army soldier to a Beijing real estate tycoon.
The video attracted millions of clicks, Xinhua said.
Another online prankster, Hu Ge, unexpectedly became famous after posting a parody of famed Chinese director Chen Kaige's latest epic "The Promise" on a website this year. Chen threatened to sue Hu.
Some commentators believe satire should not go too far and the distortion of heroes and China's revolutionary history is immoral and unacceptable, according to Xinhua.
The move is likely to be seen in the West as another attempt by Communist Party rulers to stifle free expression and control the flow of information on the Internet.
International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks China 159th on a list of 167 countries in its global press freedom index and describes its government as an "enemy" of the Internet.
Websites which broadcast short films will need approval from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television when regulations are issued in late August or September, Xinhua news agency said.
Only the well-known Chinese-language portals -- Sina, Sohu and Netease -- have been pre-approved by the administration as authorized providers of online videos.
The shorts, often parodies of classic movies or events in everyday life, have quickly grown in popularity on the Internet in China as elsewhere around the world.
However they have stirred controversy in China about morality and intellectual property rights protection, Xinhua said.
In one case deemed controversial by authorities, a 10-minute video used clips from a 1974 patriotic film about the Chinese revolution, "Sparkling Red Star". But it converted the heroic boy in the movie to a would-be pop star who competes in a television singing contest.
The parody also substitutes the evil landowner who brutally exploited tenants to a foolish judge taking backdoor bribes, and changes the boy's father from a Red Army soldier to a Beijing real estate tycoon.
The video attracted millions of clicks, Xinhua said.
Another online prankster, Hu Ge, unexpectedly became famous after posting a parody of famed Chinese director Chen Kaige's latest epic "The Promise" on a website this year. Chen threatened to sue Hu.
Some commentators believe satire should not go too far and the distortion of heroes and China's revolutionary history is immoral and unacceptable, according to Xinhua.
The move is likely to be seen in the West as another attempt by Communist Party rulers to stifle free expression and control the flow of information on the Internet.
International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks China 159th on a list of 167 countries in its global press freedom index and describes its government as an "enemy" of the Internet.
posted by 吴明士 at 11:37
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