Amidst all the talk about China’s new rules allowing foreign reporters greater freedom to travel and conduct interviews, the American Journalism Review takes a skeptical view of China’s promises of press freedom for the 2008 Olympics. The piece begins by mentioning rules implemented last September that make Xinhua the sole legitimate distributor of foreign news in China, then goes on:
A few weeks after the new restrictions came out, officials from the Beijing Olympics committee promised unfettered travel in China and uncensored Internet access for foreign reporters covering the games. In addition, organizing committee officials announced at a news conference in the Chinese capital that journalists with Olympics credentials will not need Chinese visas to enter the country. That sounds encouraging, but the actual rules for media coverage of the games have not been written.
“We all have reason to be skeptical,” says Charles Hutzler, Beijing bureau chief for the Associated Press, who has worked in China for more than 11 years and until recently was the AP’s Olympics beat reporter. “China too often promises but then undermines the promises with bad regulations. One always has the sense with Chinese rules and laws that, to paraphrase Tom Waits, the large print giveth and the small print taketh away.” [Full Text]
This piece comes as other journalists and free press advocates express caution optimism about the recent loosening of restrictions. See, for example, RFA’s Chinese radio spot on Reuters recent breakthrough interview of Tiananmen political casualty Bao Tong.
