China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is clamping down on the news content of online video sites such as Youku and Tudou, more tightly regulating which media outlets are actually allowed to produce and/or broadcast news. Tudou’s own video news portal has been shut down, renamed only as ‘Hot Items’, and which now shows a watered-down variety of amusing video clips.
Youku and Ku6 have been luckier, after apparently satisfying SARFT’s newly rigid regulations, and have kept their video news channels intact. Note that Tudou’s remains at the ‘news.tudou.com’ URL, but its content has changed.
The clampdown seems aimed at wiping out video news content that doesn’t come from state-backed national or regional stations, and locking down who gets to produce or disseminate news in general. With China and its Party set for an important milestone on July 1st, the timing is not coincidental, either.
Courtesy of Marbridge Consulting, here’s the first of SARFT’s three bulletin points on its strengthened online news oversight:
Organizations with operations which entail gathering and producing their own news are required to possess a ‘Class A online audio and video service’ license. Organizations suited to apply for this license include radio or television stations at the prefecture-level and up.
[Source: The Marbridge Daily]
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
