Olympic battle
Should we
expect press freedom as a precondition for hosting the Olympics? Journalists
will gather in
next week for a special conference titled “Beijing
Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom.” Meanwhile, Chinese officials are stepping
up their accusations of “western” media bias. Deborah Jones’ Town Hall
commentary China
and Tibet contains links to several articles on the issue. On April 4, CBC formally
complained to the Chinese ambassador that its website was being blocked in
in December Reporters Without Borders accused the IOC of “silent complicity”
with censorship during the games. These reports stand in stark contrast to less
than a year ago, when CBS foreign correspondent Barry Peterson reported on
China’s more relaxed attitude toward foreign journalists, in the posting New Rules of
Journalism in China.
Should we
expect press freedom as a precondition for hosting the Olympics? Journalists
will gather in
next week for a special conference titled “Beijing
Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom.” Meanwhile, Chinese officials are stepping
up their accusations of “western” media bias. Deborah Jones’ Town Hall
commentary China
and Tibet contains links to several articles on the issue. On April 4, CBC formally
complained to the Chinese ambassador that its website was being blocked in
in December Reporters Without Borders accused the IOC of “silent complicity”
with censorship during the games. These reports stand in stark contrast to less
than a year ago, when CBS foreign correspondent Barry Peterson reported on
China’s more relaxed attitude toward foreign journalists, in the posting New Rules of
Journalism in China.
Patricia W. Elliott is a magazine journalist and assistant professor at the School of Journalism, University of Regina. You can visit her at patriciaelliott.ca.
April 9, 2008
You ask, “Should we expect
You ask, “Should we expect press freedom as a precondition for hosting the Olympics?
I’m disappointed, but not surprised that this question is being asked so late in the game.
When did the word “investigative” drop from the phrase investigative journalism?
Asking the question today indicates that this is the first time you thought about it.
Dr. Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, “The Best Olympics Ever?,” a Professor of Sociology at U of T, and an expert respective of news media and the Olympics has researched and written about similar issues for years.
Richard Pound, President of the World Anti-Doping Association and high-ranking IOC executive published a scathing book, “Inside the Olympics” in 2004 describing the corruption within Olympics organizations.
Tony Webb, author of “The Collaborative Games” published his personal experiences as an Olympics executive respective of the Sydney Games in 2000, and even he, an IOC supporter warned that nothing is as it seems on the Olympics front.
I published a book in 2006, “Leverage Olympics Momentum,” and since 2004 produced a sister blog (www.OlyBLOG.com) documenting and warning readers that mainstream news media have no business partnering with Olympics organizations due to conflict of interest issues.
And now you ask, “Should we expect press freedom as a precondition for hosting the Olympics?”
Not only should we expect it of China, we should demand that it is more transparent in Canada too.
I suggest that before we criticize a foreign country, we look in our own backyard.
Press freedom in China is just the tip of the iceberg. You can read why it is unethical and dangerous for the IOC to pay local mainstream news media as active boosters and essentially partners of the Olympics here;
http://www.olyblog.com/f/07/CrowdSourceF08032007.shtml#SUNBOOSTER