14 DAY TRIAL // The International Olympic Committee announced today that, after negotiations with the Chinese authorities, journalists would be provided with full access to the Internet. "The media should be seeing a noticeable difference in accessibility to web sites that they need to report on the Olympic Games." says an IOC official report.
The situation with this year's Olympic Games, scheduled to start in Beijing in about one week, caused anxiety and protests, as many feared that these would be the first Olympics in modern history that would not benefit from a full and free media coverage. Protests first begun on behalf of many human rights organizations after the Chinese Government released an official statement saying that banning access to certain webpages for the duration of the games was necessary for the security of the country. Reporters Without Borders blamed, and continues to blame the IOC, which is being held equally accountable as the Chinese authorities for the encouragement of censorship.
Although Chinese President Hu Jintao assured the media that their work would be performed under normal conditions, many organizations still don't believe in his promises and, in order to also show it, plan a public demonstration on August 8, the first day of the Olympic Games. "We cannot remain indifferent to the fate of the prisoners of conscience. These peaceful demonstrations will offer a response to the cynicism of those who will sit with their arms crossed inside the Beijing stadium on 8 August." says Reporters Without Borders in a press release.
The association has previously stated that, because of China's politics of preventing access to media, to the websites of human rights organizations and even to online reports that present some of the health and other social problems the country is dealing with, over 20,000 journalists are hindered from fully covering the realities in China during the Olympics.
Even if the media's access to websites is eventually granted, the demonstration is necessary, as the RwB claims, because about 100 cyber-dissidents, journalists and Internet users in China are still imprisoned because of their online behavior.