Olympic Games Coverage, Threatened by Internet Censorship

The Chinese Government assured international media representatives and human rights organizations that they would have full access to the Beijing Olympic Games and all the information they needed. In defiance of this statement, many online resources that foreign journalists need to report from China have been restricted. Reporters Without Borders underscores that over 20,000 foreign journalists will be affected by this restrictive measure.

"Yet another broken promise!" the organization for the freedom of the press says. "Coming just nine days before the opening ceremony, this is yet another provocation by the Chinese authorities. This situation increases our concern that there will be many cases of censorship during the games. We condemn the IOC's failure to do anything about this, and we are more than skeptical about its ability to 'ensure' that the media are able to report freely." The organization blames the International Olympic Committee for not taking the necessary measures in order to enable full access to the webpages that may be needed to conduct an exhaustive report.

"Sufficient convenience for foreign journalists to access the Internet" was the very thing that the Chinese officials promised. Sun Weide, the Beijing Olympics spokesman, said in a press release that, in order to prevent the spreading of illegal content via the Internet, as it had happened before, the Chinese Government would ban access to certain online properties. He also added that this came in accordance with the laws of the country, which have to be obeyed regardless of the special circumstances. "If a few websites are difficult to browse, it's mainly because they have spread content that is banned by the Chinese laws," Sun explained. "The Internet is regulated according to law in China, just like in other countries."

International human rights groups have only one week left to throw their weight behind the regulations. Should they not succeed in persuading the IOC to intervene in the situation, these may be the first Olympic games in modern history to be stifled by censorship.