China imposes stricter limits on foreign news distribution

BEIJING — China imposed broad new restrictions Sunday on the distribution of foreign news in the country, beefing up state regulations on the news media.

Under new rules that were said to take effect immediately, the state-run New China News Agency said it would become the de facto gatekeeper for foreign news reports, photographs and graphics entering China. The agency announced in its own dispatch that it would censor content that “endangers national security.”

If enforced as drafted, the regulations could have a major impact on news agencies like The Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg News that sell news-related products to a wide range of Chinese clients.

More generally, the step appears intended to further restrict the information that news media in China, including newsoriented Web sites and financial, cultural, and sports publications, can receive and convey to viewers or subscribers. Many such media outlets have skirted censorship procedures that old-line media must follow in China, a one-party state.

Party leaders have been alarmed by the increasing assertiveness of the domestic and foreign news media. After a period of relative openness, officials now seem determined to make sure that the Chinese public does not have easy access to information that could provoke popular discontent or weaken the governing party’s grip on power.