Chinese lawmakers hold different opinions about whether to fine media for breaching government regulations in their reporting of emergencies, a controversial provision written in a draft law that is under legislative hearing.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Monday afternoon held a small-session discussion to review the draft law on emergency management, which was submitted to the legislature last Saturday for first round hearing.

The drafting of the law began in 2003.

"News media that irregularly reports the development and handling of emergencies without authorization or releases fraudulent reports will be fined between 50,000 yuan (or 6,250 US dollars) and 100,000 yuan, if the reports lead to serious consequences," says the draft law.

Emergencies are defined as industrial accidents, natural disasters, health and public security crisis in the draft.

Fang Xin, an NPC lawmaker, said the article needs second consideration, especially when the draft law fails to note what regulations are governing the media reports.

"In fact, once emergencies occur, it is usually the reporter's perseverance that lay bare the truth and encourage the government to take proper action," Fang said.

He Ken, another NPC lawmaker, said that he disagreed with writing into law that media who released the correct information could face heavy fines just because it was not authorized to do so.

"The journalism circle has its own rules," He said, adding that "media supervision", which he considered "very important", was "not strong enough" in China.

But he approved of the law that would result in reporters being fined for fabricating news stories.

Since 2003, China's media has enjoyed more freedom in writing news stories, including those relating to major emergencies. Media can be disciplined for delaying the disclosure of, for example, death toll of major industrial accidents.

An official in the Legislative Office under the State Council told Xinhua that the article was written into the draft after careful consultation with many experts, and it was not aimed at "controlling the media".

"The focus is on banning the release of false or bias news reports," said Li Yuede. "If the report did not contain detailed information, it would cause public concern."

Li's opinion was shared by other NPC lawmakers. Zheng Gongcheng, NPC lawmaker and a professor in human resources management, said the law was needed to guarantee objective reporting.

"Media should take an active role in handling emergencies, but their reporting should always be unbiased and based on the facts," Zheng said.

In fact, the draft law stipulated penalties, including those for failures of local government officials in timely announcing emergency and their efforts to cover up accidents.

Former Health Minister Zhang Wenkang was sacked in 2003 for the SARS cover-up, a signal that the government was trying to install transparency in its governing.

"Information flow is very important in time of crisis," said Fang, adding that the draft appears self-contradictory in someway as it demands transparency on one hand and makes rules on media reporting on the other.

He suggested adding one more chapter in the draft so as to establish a unblocked channel for information flow among the government, media, and the public.

There were a couple of other lawmakers raising the same suggestion as Fang's, according to the summary report of the panel discussion released by the NPC late Monday.

Lawmakers with the law's drafting body said they will consider adjusting the draft based on the opinions of the NPC lawmakers.

The draft law normally comes into effect after three rounds of legislative hearings. The Standing Committee of NPC meet every two months to have a round of such hearings.

Source: Xinhua