China has announced plans to ban journalists from reporting for five years if they break government rules on reporting.
The rules, issued by the Communist Party Central Committee Publicity Department, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the General Administration of Press and Publication, were aimed at "maintaining justice, authenticity and objectivity" in news reporting, Xinhua news agency said today.
People who impersonate reporters will be given "severe penalties", it added. Xinhua did not say when the rules were announced or would take effect.
Newspapers now report previously taboo subjects such as industrial accidents and social problems, but sensitive subjects, such as the death in January of ousted leader Zhao Ziyang, can be buried on back pages and left off broadcasts altogether.
Last year a former editor-in-chief of China's best-selling newspaper was jailed for 12 years for corruption and another editor was held for five months without charge, drawing fire from critics who said aggressive journalists were being silenced.
Chinese editor Liu Xiaobo, a veteran democracy campaigner and head of China's independent writers club, won a prize from a media rights group, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, in December for fighting for the release of imprisoned journalists,
"The regulations forbid reporters and editors from taking advantage of news coverage to seek illicit benefits or taking gifts that might influence their writing," Xinhua said. "They are also prohibited from operating businesses or taking concurrent jobs at other press or economic organisations."
"They also warn reporters, editors, producers, anchorpersons and announcers not to get involved in advertisement deals."
China has about 150,000 journalists - more than 70,000 work for newspapers and magazines, more than 60,000 work in broadcasting and the rest for news agencies, Xinhua said.