Beijing, July 31, 2008
To Jacques Rogge
President, International Olympic Committee
Dear President Rogge
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China is deeply concerned by a July 30 report that International Olympic Committee officials accepted the blocking of sensitive websites during negotiations with Chinese authorities.
If such an agreement was made, the IOC should publicly disclose the content, when it was made and by whom. Our members would also like to know why the IOC continued to publicly maintain up until this week that there would be no internet censorship during the Olympics.
The IOC charter calls for respect of universal fundamental ethical principles. The IOC is at grave risk of discrediting the Olympic movement if it fails to hold the Chinese government to its promises for a free media and access to the internet, and undercuts them with secret deals.
We hope the IOC will clarify what happened and why, before the 2008 Beijing Olympics open on August 8.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Watts
FCCC President
The Chinese government’s controls on the internet are contrary to the free reporting environment promised by the hosts and contradict International Olympic Commission assurances that the press will be able to operate as at previous Games.
Thousands of visiting journalists will now get to experience the censorship that reporters and other internet users in China have to put up with every day.
The FCCC believes China should lift controls on the web in line with the standards of openness expected of an Olympic host.
Beijing police manhandled a Danish television journalist and his Chinese assistant, knocking their camera to the ground and breaking it as the team tried to cover the crowds lined up to buy tickets during the last round of Olympic ticket sales.
DR Asia Bureau Chief Jan Larsen said the crew’s camera and monopod were broken; they could not resume filming after police shoved them away from the media zone around the ticket-buying area. Larsen said the interference took place as crowds began to get angry over chaos in the queues, and was one of several reported incidents of police tussling with media who were trying to cover the ticket sales.
“It was the usual conduct of the police in situations where things get out of control,” said Larsen, who observed that authorities were trying to stop TV media from filming the situation “rather than finding solutions to the chaos that was emerging.”
According to multiple press reports and video clips posted online, at least four Hong Kong journalists were manhandled, shoved and pushed by police while attempting to cover a crowd of Beijingers trying to buy Olympics tickets.
Video clips show police shoving photographers and other media away as a rush of ticket-buyers tried to push ahead in the line. At least two cameramen were grabbed by the neck and shoved, while another was pulled down from the ladder on which he was standing to shoot photos.
A South China Morning Post photographer was detained, and later apologized for kicking one of the policemen in the groin. Hong Kong media reported some injuries and damage to equipment as a result of police action.
The SCMP quoted Zhao Dongming, head of the Cultural Ctivities Department of the Beijing Games organizing committee as saying, “We deeply regret what happened…Perhaps there was some mishandling at the site of the incident. I think after this experience everyone will find a way to do a better job.”
State security told potential interviewees in Dalian not to talk to Rupert Wingfield Hayes of the BBC when he attempted to ask them about their involvement in a Carrefour boycott.
