Western Performers Banned in China

China is to impose stricter rules on foreign rock and pop stars after singer Bjork caused controversy by shouting "Tibet, Tibet" at a Shanghai concert.

Her cry followed a powerful performance of her song Declare Independence.

Talk of Tibetan independence is considered taboo in China, which has ruled the territory since 1951. China's culture ministry said the outburst broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people's feelings and pledged to further tighten controls. We shall never tolerate any attempt to separate Tibet from China and will no longer welcome any artists who deliberately do this.

Bjork said she would like to put importance on that I am not a politician, I am first and last a musician and as such I feel my duty to try to express the whole range of human emotions.

On her website, she said: This song was written more with the personal in mind. But the fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure.

A spokeswoman from the culture ministry told the AFP news agency Bjork could be banned from performing in China if there was a repeat performance: If Bjork continued to behave like that in the future, we may consider never allowing her to perform in China.

Update: Olympic Backtracking

14th March

The Chinese Vice Minister of Culture, Zhou Heping, has now dismissed the tighter controls originally implied, saying: It was just an individual case. I don’t think it will affect an invitation of artists from all over the world to come to China and perform, particularly during the Olympic Games.

At a March concert in Shanghai, China, Björk took time out from Volta's "Declare Independence" to shout out "Tibet!"

Shortly after the incident with Björk, the Chinese Ministry of Culture issued a statement claiming her outburst broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people's feelings, with an additional suggestion that the nation would increase restrictions on foreign performers.

This week, the Chinese government made good on that suggestion with a declaration of its own: as noted in a Reuters report, all overseas entertainers (including those from Hong Kong and Taiwan) posing a threat to China's sovereignty will be banned from performing in China.

A statement on the Ministry of Culture's website reads: Any artistic group or individual who [has] ever engaged in activities that threaten national sovereignty will not be allowed in. What's more, any entertainers who threaten national unity, whip up ethnic hatred, violate religious policy or cultural norms, or advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition during live events will also be banned from performance.

Beijing has also banned pop festivals and tightened the rules for approval of outdoor events in advance of this summer's Olympics in and around the city. Nothing that has not been approved will be allowed to be performed, the Ministry of Culture said.

Ofcom have fined the BBC £150,000 over the Sachsgate row, describing the Radio 2 broadcast of messages left by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand on actor Andrew Sachs's voicemail as gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning.

The TV censor said the scale of the fine reflected the extraordinary nature and seriousness of the BBC's failures and the resulting breaches of the broadcasting code.

Ofcom said the corporation had broadcast explicit, intimate and confidential information about Sachs's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, without her consent in Brand's Radio 2 programmes that aired on 18 October and 25 October last year.

This not only unwarrantably and seriously infringed their privacy but was also gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning, Ofcom said.

The media regulator said it had imposed a fine of £70,000 for breaches of the broadcasting code on standards and over the Radio 2 broadcast of offensive material, and a further £80,000 for the unwarranted infringement of Sachs's and Baillie's privacy.

Ofcom said that despite the BBC considering Brand's show to be high risk, it had ceded responsibility for some of management of the programme to people working for the comedian. The presenter's interests had been given greater priority than the BBC's responsibility to avoid unwarranted infringements of privacy and minimise the risk of harm and offence and to maintain generally accepted standards, the Ofcom report said.

It doesn't seem fair that the tax payer  should pay for your husband's porn. Better if Jonathan Ross pays.

Senior government expense account holders have backed demands for Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to pay the £150,000 fine imposed on the BBC for their antics.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell all added their voices to the outcry.

There is outrage that the licence-fee payer will have to meet the fine imposed on Friday by the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.

There are also calls for Brand's production company Vanity Projects, which produced the broadcast, to pay at least some of the money.

Straw, the most senior expense account holder to have spoken out about the fine, said the performers should pay out of their own pockets. It is wrong that licence-fee payers will have to pick up the bill for this. It is ridiculous that the penalty will be paid by the public.

Jowell, the former Culture Secretary, added: I think it would be honourable for Jonathan Ross to offer to pay it himself.

Miss Blears told the BBC's Any Questions: The BBC is funded by all of us as licence-payers, so are we having to pay the fine? Maybe Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand should pay it … that might be quite a good idea.

The BBC has said the money for the fine will come out of its general budget.

An Ofcom spokesman said: Parliament decided for very serious breaches of our broadcasting rules the BBC would be subject to a maximum fine of £250,000. These powers only allow for fines to be levied against the BBC and not individuals. 'To do so would require a change in the law.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture has refused permission for Bob Dylan to play his scheduled dates in Shanghai and Beijing this month, the Guardian reports.

This has led to the cancelling of shows in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

According to promoter Jeffrey Wu, Chinese officials have become more cautious since Bjork, the Icelandic singer, chanted 'Tibet! Tibet!' after performing a song called Declare Independence in Shanghai in 2008.

Jeffrey Wu, of Taiwanese promoters Brokers Brothers Herald, said that What Bjork did definitely made life very difficult for other performers. They are very wary of what will be said by performers on stage now.

Singer Bob Dylan has denied accusations that he had bowed to censorship during his first concerts in China last month. Dylan was criticised by Western media and by Human Rights Watch for not performing some of his best-known protest songs on his China tour in April.

In a rare online posting, Dylan said Chinese authorities asked for the names of the songs he would play in their country.

Dylan said he sent Chinese officials his set lists from the previous three months of shows. He performed in Beijing on 6 April and Shanghai two days later.

If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play, Dylan wrote in the post.

Media commentators cited the absence of songs The Times They Are A-Changin' and Blowin' in the Wind from Dylan's China set list as evidence that the counter- culture hero had caved to pressure.

In March, China's Culture Ministry said in a brief statement that an agreement to have Dylan sing in the country came with the proviso that he perform the approved content.