LONDON, November 3, 2021 – A damning indictment of the media-obstructive strategy of local authorities ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics has been published by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.
The statement, while aimed at the Chinese Olympic organisers, may also be read as an indirect criticism of acquiesence by the International Olympic Committee and its president Thomas Bach.
A lengthy Twitter thread on @fccchina states that “resolving these issues is of utmost importance before thousands of international journalists from print and broadcast outlets prepare to enter China to cover the next Olympic [Winter] Games in February.”
The analysis contrasts current restrictive Chinese attitudes to the international media with the comparatively cooperative policy active for the Beijing summer Olympics in 2008.
A statement from the IOC has promised it will take up the concerns.
It said: “The IOC places great importance on the work of the global media and its coverage of the Olympic Games. Today, we have been made aware of the specific concerns of the FCCC through their statement and we will address them with the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee.”
The FCCC has set out a long catalogue of complaints by journalists and editors from various international outlets.
These include threats of cancellation of accreditations for journalists asking questions about human rights issues, police harassment of photographers at Olympic venues, organisers’ baring coverage of the arrival of the Olympic flame and provision of “slow and incorrect information” about accreditation for test events.
‘Requests denied’
One outlet noted: “”Repeated requests for access to film Olympic ski-grounds have been denied since 2020. Interview requests for athletes, their trainers, and public officials are all turned down. We were denied access to winter sports test games.”
The FCC has appealed directly to the IOC and to the organising committee (BOCOG) “to improve international reporting conditions in the run-up to, and during, the Games.”
A statement adds:
Over the last year, the foreign press corps has been continuously stymied in its coverage of Winter Olympic Game preparations, denied attendance at routine events, and prevented from visiting sports venues in China.
Our members’ repeated inquiries towards BOCOG on how international media can report on the Games have been met with conflicting answers or neglected completely.
Such behavior fails to uphold the IOC’s own Olympic Charter, in which Rule 48 requires the committee take “all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Games.”
‘Tremendous uncertainty’
With less than three months remaining before the start of Beijing 2022, there is still tremendous uncertainty over how and if foreign correspondents will be able to cover the Games.
In its bid for the 2022 Winter Games, China explicitly promised that “media seeking to report on the Games would have freedom to report… and would also be free to report on Games preparations.”
Yet in the last year, the foreign press corps has largely been unable to attend any press conferences or even observe routine events – such as venue visits or the arrival of the Olympic flame – which are open to Chinese domestic media.
Many event dates are not publicised beforehand, or BOCOG announces them with only hours left to spare. Foreign journalists who attempt to register for events are denied because BOCOG limits attendance to only their chosen media outlets, claim the event is full or because they require participants to submit COVID test results within an impossible timeframe of only a few hours.
‘Conditions unclear’
China has also left the specific conditions in which international journalists can enter China to cover the Olympics unclear.
For example, will reporters with accreditation for Beijing 2022 be able to travel outside of the Olympic bubbles in and around the capital city, will they be required to quarantine, and if so under what conditions?
Furthermore, the closure of China’s borders since March 2020 and additional delays in granting international media organizations new visas to send reporters to the mainland have resulted in literally dozens of empty posts, further decimating Olympic coverage.”
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