Just received a spam sms from Beijing Gov's public services:

首都文明委提示您，每月11日是排队推动日，排队文明，礼让光荣。[首都文明委]
Capital Civilization Development Committee reminds you, the 11th of every month is Line-up Promotion Day...

Haha!

Provisions on the Reporting Activities in China Conducted by Foreign Journalists during the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period

The new regulation has been effective for a whole month as of today. Too early to draw a conclusion on the impact but the change has taken place quietly.

"They've most probably gone to the other cities and provinces for reporting, because of the new law." 4 Chinese journalists with Xinhua News Agency observed, when they didn't see a single foreign journalist during their half-day reporting activity in Tian'anmen Square, Beijing, on January 1^st 2007, the first day of the New Year, and the first day of the new regulation taken effective.

"Provisions on the Reporting Activities in China Conducted by Foreign Journalists during the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period" is a rather short document, signed off by Chinese PM Wen Jiabao in December 2006, and came into effect on January 1, 2007, valid until October 17, 2008. 9 points, the key items highlighted and cheered for by all foreign news agencies and journalists being:

6. Foreign journalists conducting reporting activities in China, need only the agreement of the person they are interviewing.
7. Foreign journalists can hire Chinese citizens through organizations providing services to foreign nationals to assist them in their reporting activities.

Previous restrictions relaxed by this new regulation include approval from local authorities for conducting interviews. This means foreign journalists now enjoy more freedom in reporting on China, free to interview anyone they want in any places in China. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regular press conference on December 1 2006, when asked by a foreign journalist about the process of interviewing in Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions which has always been more complicated than interviews in other provinces, the spokesman Liu Jianchao answered "the new regulation is applicable in all provinces and regions in China."

According to Xinhua, on Jan 1, a few foreign journalists have already taken off to Guangdong and Shandong Provinces for reporting on a village presidential recall, a group protest, and a local civil judicial case. Reuter’s Benjamin Lim and his colleague interviewed a man in Inner Mongolia on the new year’s day and published the report on the same day, being the first article from a foreign journalist’s cross-province interview without the application process after the new regulation. Lim said he had wanted and applied to carry out this interview in 2004, never made it until Jan 1 this year.

Of course there are still obstacles because the interview still needs to be agreed on by the interviewees, who are still fairly prudent, conservative and skeptical towards foreign journalists. Some interviewees will still want to "ask their bosses" for approval.

Change takes time.

And what happens after Oct 17 2008? Rumor has it the regulation might be extended after the Olympics. Till when?

Source:
Nanfang Weekend (Chinese)
Xinhua (English)
China Daily (English)
Full text of "Provisions on the Reporting Activities in China Conducted by Foreign Journalists during the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period" (Chinese)