China, the world's biggest censor, is planning to tighten its controls on the media with a new law that would impose financial penalties on news organisations that report on emergencies without permission.
Despite opposition from mainland and Hong Kong journalists who say it is a step backwards for press freedom, state council officials expect the legislation to be adopted by the end of the year.
Under the draft law, newspapers and TV channels face fines of up to £7,000 for unauthorised reports on natural disasters, accidents, public health incidents and public safety disturbances deemed misleading or harmful to social order.
If adopted, this would close the biggest loophole for domestic reporters who try to beat the censors by putting out stories before they are banned. Foreign and Hong Kong news outlets, which have previously faced fewer restrictions than their mainland Chinese counterparts, will also be liable to fines.
The controversial bill has been more than two years in the drafting. It was first mooted in the aftermath of the Sars crisis, when China's most daring news organisations broke new ground in exposing official cover-ups of the disease. Their reports, which were constantly a step ahead of the censors, led to the resignation of the health minister and Beijing's mayor.
In the years since, the Communist authorities have responded by rolling back media freedoms, closing down publications and locking up some of the most prominent editors who exposed the Sars outbreak. According to one international organisation, the Committee to Protect Journalists, China imprisons more journalists than any other country, with 32 domestic reporters currently in jail. In addition, Reporters without Borders says 64 cyber-dissidents are in prison.
Several newspapers, websites and blogs have been shut down, editors have been fired, and more sophisticated restrictions have been imposed on online content and the use of internet cafes.
Chinese officials said the new law was primarily intended to penalise local governments that are slow to release information about public emergencies. They said news outlets would be punished only if they made mistakes or their reporting had "grave social consequences".
Wang Yongqing, vice-minister of the state council's legislative affairs office, told reporters: "Journalists and media organisations have worked very hard to contribute to covering emergencies but I must say that some individual journalists have filed wrong reports or even fabricated facts."
News organisations fear the vague wording of the law will allow local officials to interpret it in a way that prevents corruption scandals, land protests, disease outbreaks and mining accidents from coming to light.
Several of the bolder mainland news organisations have publicly criticised the legislation. A commentator with the Southern Metropolis Daily wrote: "We believe that the spirit of watchdog journalism should be upheld in this law. But in fact this draft in its present form does exactly the opposite and doubtless represents a step back."
Hong Kong news organisations - which break many stories that the censors block on the mainland - say the new law would erode the freedom they enjoy under the "one-party, two-systems" arrangement covering the territory's relationship with the rest of China.
Serenade Woo Lai-wan, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, told the South China Morning Post: "The public has the right to know and reporters have the right to report. We are under one country, two systems. The two legal systems are different. I don't see why Hong Kong journalists have to follow this regulation."
The  Chinese Government has announced plans to impose fines of over US$12,000 on media outlets if they report domestic disasters without permission. 

Two years in the planning, the law is expected to be in force by the end of the year and would affect reporting of natural and industrial disasters or anything that could “jeopardize the handling of emergencies,” or threaten social order. 

In a country which is infamous for its censorship there’s been outcry from press freedom campaign groups, but the Chinese government insist that the laws are primarily to give local governments more control in releasing information to the public. A government spokesperson said: "Journalists and media organisations have worked very hard to contribute to covering emergencies but I must say that some individual journalists have filed wrong reports or even fabricated facts."

Chinese journalists on the mainland  Hong Kong have criticised the law, calling it a “step backward.” The Xin Kuaibao (New Express) said it was concerned that local government would control information saying “there is no way of verifying that the information in the hands of the government is the truest and most accurate.”   

The  Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) meanwhile has expressed its concern. "The media have an important and potentially life-saving role in reporting health crises, natural disasters and other incidents of public concern that officials often have an interest in concealing," CPJ director Ann Cooper said last week. 

The proposed law is a worry for some in light of the Chinese government’s handling of previous disasters that were widely criticised. In 2004 several officials resigned for their handling of the  SARS outbreak, after public pressure sparked by domestic media. 

According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists,  China imprisons more journalists than any other country, including two from the Southern Metropolis News for their reportage of the SARS crisis.