Beijing introduces new censorship rules

The Communist Party has introduced new pre-censorship rules on the coverage of politically sensitive topics, the South China Morning Post reported. The newspaper said the publicity department of the party's Central Committee had decided that state media should get permission before covering historic events or some anniversaries related to controversial revolutionary or political figures. A meeting was convened of senior executives and editors from the main state media outlets to brief them on the new rules. Last year, the department asked government media outlets to limit coverage of such topics to official versions put out by the Xinhua news agency. A senior media executive told the newspaper the government wants to tighten controls ahead of the party congress later this year.