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Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 10 Olympic Games Executive Director, Gilbert Felli, gave the Committee to Protect Journalists in Lausanne in November 2006, and the line has barely changed since. Nor is this a situation in which China can claim that it is being forced to accept Western standards of governance through some sort of unwarranted interference in its internal affairs. After competing with four other cities in 2001, it entered into a contractual agreement with the International Olympic Committee to host the Games. One of the promises it made was that it would fix its media problem. When skepticism arose back then, both sides assured the world that by 2008, China would have moved on from its increasingly archaic censorship policies. Unfortunately, after seven years of avoidance and delay, we now must hope that things will get better in the short period before the start of the Games. Otherwise, the 25,000 to 30,000 visiting journalists can expect some challenges when they cover the Games and particularly when they cover the China that lies beyond the Games’ venues. Resident foreign correspondents already assume their phones are tapped and their e-mail scanned, particularly if they are the sort of reporter who digs deeper into controversial issues. They also know they are running the risk of a confrontation if they look too closely at issues like the military or Taiwanese independence, pro-democracy activists, HIV/AIDS villages, the Falun Gong, or underground churches that meet without the government’s permission. The pressure has already started and will increase on groups that might try to pull off a demonstration to catch the attention of foreign cameras in Beijing. But, more importantly, newcomers to reporting in China should realize that their Chinese counterparts are not allowed to play by the same rules. And that particularly applies to the thousands of young production assistants, translators, gofers and fixers they will be hiring to help them once they start to spread out across the country. Experienced Chinese journalists know the limits of their freedom. The Committee to Protect Journalists has not spoken to any of them who say they plan on breaking new reporting ground while the Games are on - though some have wistfully said they wished the sort of relaxation of rules for foreigners would be extended to them. It is the younger college students and recent graduates, with the language skills and enthusiasm to catch the eye of a foreign correspondent, who will be more at risk. We are concerned that when foreign news teams arriving in Beijing hire local Chinese assistants, they will place demands on them that might put them in jeopardy. Reporters who ask their Chinese hires to arrange potentially dangerous meetings, say with activists, or to visit an HIV/AIDS village, or get advance information on potential demonstrations that the government will want to quash, might be putting their Chinese colleagues at risk. It is not inconceivable that they will be made to pay a price, if not during the Games, then afterwards, when the world’s attention has moved on. Clearly, these are not the open Games the world has become accustomed to, or the Games we were promised in 2001. After the revelations of corruption involved in Salt Lake
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 11 City’s bid for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, host cities since then have made their agreements public in the name of transparency. The only city not to do that is Beijing. Recognizing that the Games presented us with an opportunity to exert greater than usual influence around China’s media policy, last year the Committee to Protect Journalists produced a report, Falling Short: As the 2008 Olympics Approach, China Falters on Press Freedom, which we are in the process of revising. Our intention is to speak to the journalists covering the Olympics. We want to give them practical advice on how to work as a journalist in China, as well as tell them of the conditions under which their Chinese colleagues are working. As an organization working on behalf of journalists and press freedom, the committee has refrained from calling for a boycott of the Beijing Games. We are as convinced as anyone else in this room that China will not reverse its media policies by August, nor any time soon after that. China’s media polices are an integral part of its authoritarian political system, and will only change when the government is prepared to cede more political freedom to the Chinese people. The Games still present an opportunity for journalists to influence not only China’s media policies but its overall authoritarian approach. That is the power of the press, which can still make an impact, even if China and the IOC do not meet the pledges they made in 2001. Norway’s Olympic athletes: trained for human rights Per Toien Chief of Information, Norwegian Olympic and Para-Olympic Committee & Sports Confederation The Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports embraces every aspect of sport in Norway. From a child's first encounter with organized sport to preparation for the Olympic podium, all athletes are part of our organization, known for short as the NIF. Out of 4,5 million Norwegians, NIF has 2,1 million members. Sport and therefore NIF are integral parts of Norwegian society. We cannot distance ourselves nor our athletes from the issues concerning our society, sports is politics and always has been. The NIF is not a political organization. Yet, we voted to take part in the Olympics in Beijing. We thought dialogue is better than boycotts. Like everyone else, we hope that the Games, as an important part of a long-term process, will lead to positive developments for human rights.
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