Chinese magazine penalized over coverage

A leading Chinese news magazine is halfway to closure after it defied a central government directive not to report on the 30th anniversary of the end of the Cultural Revolution in October. The Communist Party's propaganda department has imposed a six-point penalty on Lifeweek magazine and disciplined its editor, the South China Morning Post reported. Under the new points system, introduced to tighten control over print media ahead of this autumn's party congress, a score of 12 means a media outlet can be closed down. In addition to running a cover story on the Cultural Revolution, Lifeweek angered government officials by publishing a lead story on the 30th anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong in its September 11 issue. Its August 30 cover story marked the 30th anniversary of the Tangshan earthquake, which took more than 200,000 lives. Directives were issued early last year forbidding the media from playing up such topics.