"These measures are an authoritarian attempt to control news and information dissemination and the access of China's users to uncensored news and information," Sharon Hom cutive director of Human Rights in China, said.

Regulations released Sept. 10 give the government's Xinhua News Agency control over distribution within China of news, information and other services from foreign agencies. Xinhua said it would delete items deemed to violate national unity or social stability.

"These new regulations on the distribution of foreign news are a step backward," Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

The regulations come amid a clampdown by Communist leaders on China's media and the Internet in which aggressive reporters and editors have been fired and arrested.

Hom said the rules also violate Beijing's pledge to let reporters freely cover the 2008 Summer Games.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 16, 2006
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