China Curbing Foreign Media Access

China has taken steps to curb foreign access to its media, defending what officials call national cultural security.

People’s Daily, voice of the ruling Communist party, announced rules on cultural imports, forbidding in principle permission for any more foreign television channels.

The new regulations add weight to Beijing’s recent conservative line on further media opening, the Financial Times said Thursday.

In recent years, China sought to encourage foreign and private investment in the domestic media industry, including joint venture investments for the first time last year.

But, this year Beijing has tightened its limits on such ventures and officials are widely seen as moving more slowly to approve investments.

International media groups such as Viacom and News Corp., working for years to cultivate China’s favor, have only limited operating room.

The renewed caution comes against a backdrop of increased efforts to crack down on political dissidents, rein in Chinese journalists and strengthen censorship of the Internet.