Center

Web portals no place for journalists

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-24 09:38

Employees of portal Websites will not be granted journalist certificates and have no right to conduct news interviews, an official of the General Administration of Press and Publications said.

The official was commenting on a blackmail case in which a "Web journalist" extorted 3.8 million yuan (US$483,300) from a company by using an illegal journalist certificate.

The official said only newspapers, news agencies, radio and TV stations are authorized to conduct news interviews in China.

A Beijing court sentenced Li Ling to four years in prison for trying to extort money from a health products company. Li worked for a Website that handled consumer complaints.

Reporters employed by Websites owned by authorized news organizations may apply for a journalist certificate, but other Website workers will not be certified, the official said.

Websites and their employees who conduct illegal news interviews in China will be punished according to the law, he added.