From the NYT:

China’s government said Wednesday that it was cracking down on “false news reports, unauthorized publications and bogus journalists.”

Beijing officials periodically try to discourage the country’s news media from being too aggressive. The latest initiative comes two months before a politically delicate occasion: the Chinese Communist Party Congress, held every five years.

People’s Daily, the official voice of the Communist Party, said the party Central Committee’s propaganda department, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the State Press and Publication Administration jointly warned that “those who intentionally fabricated news that caused public anxiety and tarnished the nation’s image would be harshly dealt with or even prosecuted if they broke the law.”

“Their news organizations would also be penalized,” the newspaper added.

The government also urged news outlets to set up hot lines so that the public could report false news accounts.