SARFT Uses Accreditation Authority to Silence Critical Television Host
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) used its authority to accredit television hosts to shut down the television show of well-known economist Lang Xianping (also known as Larry Lang) in late February 2006, according to a March 7 Radio Free Asia article (in Chinese) and a March 14 Financial Times article. According to Lang's assistant and Shanghai-based television producers, SARFT shut down Lang's program on the grounds that he lacked a required government certification that he speaks standard Mandarin Chinese. Lang is a Taiwan-born professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. According to the Financial Times:
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) used its authority to accredit television hosts to shut down the television show of well-known economist Lang Xianping (also known as Larry Lang) in late February 2006, according to a March 7 Radio Free Asia article (in Chinese) and a March 14 Financial Times article. According to Lang's assistant and Shanghai-based television producers, SARFT shut down Lang's program on the grounds that he lacked a required government certification that he speaks standard Mandarin Chinese. Lang is a Taiwan-born professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. According to the Financial Times:
Mr. Lang made his name by attacking the sale of state assets at what he said were often fire-sale prices in under-the-table deals to private entrepreneurs. Mr. Lang's tirades against the sale of state assets struck a nerve in a country increasingly concerned about the corruption involved in the rapid accumulation of wealth by some entrepreneurs in recent years. The government agency that oversees large state enterprises banned management buyouts in early 2005, largely as a result of the controversy generated by Mr. Lang, and has only recently slightly eased the rules.
SARFT requires all television editors, journalists, and hosts to be accredited by the government, and in addition to language standards, also imposes ethical and ideological requirements. For example:
- In April 2005, SARFT issued its "Interim Implementation Rules for Administration of Those Employed as Radio and Television News Reporters and Editors," saying "It is necessary to instruct news reporting and editing personnel to strengthen their political consciousness."
- In March 2005, the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department, the General Administration of Press and Publication, and SARFT jointly issued a set of regulations requiring news reporting and editing personnel to support the leadership of the Party, focus on "correct propaganda" as their guiding principle, and have a firm grasp of "correct guidance of public opinion."
- In December 2004, SARFT issued the "Professional Ethical Standards for China Radio and Television Editors and Reporters" and the "Professional Ethical Standards for China Broadcast Television Announcers and Hosts."
- Also in December 2004, SARFT issued the Notice Regarding Strengthening the Supervision of Radio and Television Discussion Programs, calling on television operators to "increase their control over what radio and television interview program hosts say on the air."
- In June 2004, SARFT issued the Interim Rules on the Administration of Qualifications of Radio and Television Editorial Journalists and Hosts, stating that only individuals who hold a professional degree or higher and who "endorse the basic ideology, fundamental line, and general and specific policies of the Chinese Communist Party" may obtain government certification to work in radio or television journalism. The rules also prohibit anyone who has been expelled from the Party from becoming a radio or television journalist.