The Department of Press and Publications, which is part of the Minstry of Arts, Heritage and Culture, has been divided into three section: licensing, publications and artistic works.

According the Peninsula newspaper report:

• Licensing Section issues licenses for journalists, publications, press and printing houses, publishers and libraries.
• Department of Publications focuses on censorship of publications, creating a publications registry, etc.
• Department of Artistic Works supervises foreign movies and the censorship of personal works, oversees locally-produced works and keep track of private works of art.

Whether this is an expansion of powers or just a refinement of them, I’m not sure. What I would like to know though, is what impact this will have on local and foreign journalists operating in the country.

Credit: Graphic by Seattle Clouds and released under Creative Commons