The 2008 Beijing Olympics a vast hunting prairie for journalism

 

The Beijing 2008 Olympics are vast hunting prairies for all sorts of journalism. Will the Chinese Republic allow free journalism? 

…..”Beijing Olympics may give the impression of effortless efficiency but a fug as thick as the smog that chokes the city still hangs over media freedoms at the event.”…

….. “covering the 24th Olympiad, yet it has so far made no provision for the thousands of visitors - equipped with DV cameras, photo-phones, Blackberry devices and laptops - who will want to report events - sporting and non-sporting - on their blogs, or send images to citizen-journalism agencies.”….

….. “The sheer number of citizen journalists that could descend on Beijing….has led some to believe that controlling them could be beyond the notoriously long arms of China’s media authorities.”…..

….. “Maybe citizen journalism will come into its own [in Beijing], because it’s so unstoppable.” (see full article)

  On the dark side of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, as of December 1, 2006  there are 31 journalist imprisoned in the Chinese Republic 

 (see here) and (here).

      

Shi Tao.(see here)             Yang Jianli 

      UPDATE.

   A Beijing Organizing Committee for the XXXIX Olympiad (BOCOG} statement:....."Bright future for media operations in China.  Olympic media operations are expected to have a deep impact on China's future media services as it is a brand new subject matter in the country's higher-learning and academic ( see here)", 2007-08-03.
  A Reporters Without Borders statement:   Reporters Without Borders condemns the "self-discipline pact" signed by at least 20 leading blog service providers in China including Yahoo.cn! and MSN.cn. Unveiled yesterday by the Internet Society of China (ISC), an offshoot of the information industry ministry, the pact stops short the previous project of making it obligatory for bloggers to register, but it can be used to force service providers to censor content and identify bloggers. ......"ISC secretary-general Huang Chengqing was clear yesterday when he said: "Blog service providers who allow the use of pseudonyms may be more attractive to bloggers, but they will be punished by the government if they fail to screen illegal information.".....  "The companies are also urged to adopt "sincere self-discipline and, of their own initiative, to protect the interests of the State and Party." ( see here ), 2997-08-23.
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   Bloggers are perhaps an endangered specie in the to day  preparations for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.