Chinese authorities are requiring makers of online films to gain licenses and report their content before it is posted, tightening regulation of what in recent years has been a more freewheeling genre than China’s traditional film industry.
China’s online video sites have provided an accessible platform for filmmakers of all kinds to post their work, often of shorter form than those in traditional cinemas. Microfilms, often produced by amateurs and students and increasingly by professional companies, have exploded over the past few years, stretching the boundaries of what can be shown.
This week’s update of a two-year-old regulation on the supervision of online dramas and microfilms has raised fears of stifling creativity. The broadcast administration now requires content makers to register with their real names, production companies to obtain operating licenses and report their content before it is put online and video-hosting companies to keep records of uploaded content.
China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said the purpose is to improve supervision of the Internet, cultivate a “healthy and civilized” online environment and prevent programs with excessively sexual and violent content from having a harmful influence on society.
Wei Jiangang (魏建剛), who makes microfilms with homosexual themes, said the industry depicts a multitude of topics and the government considers some — such as sex and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender themes — very sensitive.”
“The only purpose of such a policy I think is to affect the creativity of microfilm-making, and bring it into the regular censorship system so as to carry out ideological control of this gray area of online video,” Wei said. “In cyberspace, there are loads of various opinions and voices, so the government surely doesn’t want the online video market to escape censorship.”
According to previous regulations, alleged violators face fines of 20,000 yuan (US$3,300) to 50,000 yuan and costs for possible damages, while they may also be punished for a criminal offense if a crime is found to have occurred.
Broadcasting authorities already were required to censor uploaded content and faced regulations against sexually explicit and violent content, territory microfilms have strayed into as they chase viewers.
The new, tighter rules follow a more general crackdown on online expression. Since the summer last year, authorities have arrested dozens of people for spreading rumors, created penalties for people who post libelous information and told celebrity bloggers to guard the national interest.
Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a Beijing-based Internet and mobile research company, said the updated regulation “is definitely more limiting” to microfilm makers.
“Among other things they have to now get a license which they are not assured of getting,” he said. “And even if they get a license it means that they still need to clean up their content and as such it will probably be less attractive. Sex and violence both sell,” he said.
Online sites, including Youku Tudou, iQiyi and Sohu, declined to comment.
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
REVELRY ON HOLD: Students marched in Belgrade amid New Year’s events, saying that ‘there is nothing to celebrate’ after the train station tragedy killed 15 Thousands of students marched in Belgrade and two other Serbian cities during a New Year’s Eve protest that went into yesterday, demanding accountability over the fatal collapse of a train station roof in November. The incident in the city of Novi Sad occurred on Nov. 1 at a newly renovated train facility, killing 14 people — aged six to 74 — at the scene, while a 15th person died in hospital weeks later. Public outrage over the tragedy has sparked nationwide protests, with many blaming the deaths on corruption and inadequate oversight of construction projects. In Belgrade, university students marched through the capital
RSS