China appears set to ban reporting by news outlets not directly funded by the Communist Party, in a further blow to free speech

The Chinese government is proposing new rules that would ban news reporting by outlets not directly funded by the Communist Party in a further blow to freedom of speech in the country. A document, submitted to China's National Development and Reform Council on Friday, proposes that private capital could not fund news gathering, broadcasting and distribution, including on social media. It said that privately-funded organizations "shall not engage in the news gathering, editing and broadcasting business." It would also stop news outlets from reproducing news content published by foreign media outlets, Bloomberg reported.

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