China tightens law on handling disasters including media coverage

China tightened controls on handling accidents and disasters, increasing penalties on authorities that respond poorly and tightening government surveillance of media reporting on emergencies.

Legal revisions announced late on Friday aim to "improve the ability for emergency prevention and response" and refine how information is disseminated about natural disasters, accidents, and public health emergencies.

Government guidance over news coverage could tighten media restrictions and access in a country that is already on constant guard against reports that could potentially harm social stability and security, some media analysts said.

An escalation of extreme weather events has tested China's emergency responses in recent years as the country faces more severe floods and drought. Disasters such as earthquakes have also challenged local officials in remote and rural areas.

The revisions to the Emergency Response Law, which take effect on Nov. 1, boost five-fold the maximum fine for failure to adequately prepare for or respond to disasters, to 1 million yuan ($140,000).

Official guidance over news coverage will be tightened. The law calls for an enhanced "news interviewing and reporting system" for emergencies but does not give specific guidelines.

Government departments must "guide" news media and "support" them in conducting interviews and reporting, as well as "conduct supervision" on public opinion.

News of emergencies should be "timely, accurate, objective and fair", emergency warnings prompt, and designated personnel should be appointed to receive and disseminate warning information to public and crowded areas, the revised law says.

"The stated purpose is to increase accuracy and objectivity of information, but the new law further monopolizes state control over information flows," said Katja Drinhausen, head of the politics and society program at European think tank Mercator Institute for China Studies.

The revisions make terms for journalists reporting on emergencies even more prescriptive, said Jemimah Steinfeld, the CEO of UK-based Index on Censorship.

The revisions, passed by the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, add more than 30 provisions to the 2007 law.

The law bars government agencies from instructing others to delay, falsely report, or conceal information, or obstruct others from reporting.

Reuters