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OLYMPICS MEDIA BATTLE CHINA SYNDROME
Tuesday, June 17 2008
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Following numerous reports that China has imposed restrictions on foreign news media that will impede -- if not prevent -- their coverage of the Olympic Games, officials of the International Olympic Committee charged with coordinating TV, radio and press coverage have begun talks with members of China's organizing committee seeking assurances that broadcasters will have unfettered access to sites in Beijing. The Associated Press on Monday quoted IOC member Kevan Gosper as saying that "some progress" had been made, "but I can't say we are there yet." Chinese officials are apparently concerned that opponents of their country's policies regarding Tibet and Darfur may attempt to stage demonstrations in Beijing during the games in hopes of attracting the attention of the world's news media. Gosper, who is chairman of the IOC press commission, told the AP that he has made it plain to Chinese organizers that journalists must "have the ability of filing live without any censorship." But Kevin Fleck, China manager of Sydney-based Global Vision Networks, a satellite service provider that has contracted to provide satellite feeds for local stations all over the world, told the wire service that he has run into bureaucratic roadblocks. He said he worries that reporters are going to try to get "on the morning show back home and they're not going to be able to do it. And they are going to be angry."
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