Peking duck, sweet and sour

Olympics
Peking duck, sweet and sour

Tibet taboo, which is at the Olympics? China's double-edged handling of media.
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Shortly after the journalist Georg Blume had arrived in Tibet,
including the security forces came to his hotel. "I have visitors
every day," says the China correspondent of the "time". Every time
they asked him to leave Lhasa, among other things, because on the day
after the riots on 14 March without an official visa for Tibet was
entered. But flower remained. On the sixth day, the local authorities
threatened him massively. "They said if I would not, I got big
trouble," he says, "they also spoke of problems for my Chinese visa."
Georg Blume realized that as a threat to expel him from the country.

Finally he left Lhasa, along with two colleagues. They were the last
foreign journalists in Tibet.

"The working conditions for journalists in China are currently a big
disappointment," said Jocelyn Ford from the Association of Foreign
Correspondents in China (FCCC), "they must not go where it is work of
interest to them." Of your organization are in the last few days, more
than 40 cases of Tibet and neighboring Chinese provinces of Sichuan
and Gansu became known, in which foreign journalists were prevented
from reporting. For Tibet, journalists no longer require a visa. "The
reason is not clear," said Jocelyn Ford, state television CCTV 9 spoke
of safety, but the surprise for the freedom of the press officer at
FCCC. "The Chinese government declared that the situation in Tibet is
peaceful," says Ford, "it makes no sense."

The recent restrictions contradict the January 2007 applied new rules
for journalists at the Olympic Games in August in Beijing.
Accordingly, allowed foreign journalists to move freely in China and
no longer have to obtain prior permission from local authorities.
"This scheme is a great step forward, I no longer want to go back to
the time before," said Jocelyn Ford, however, the FCCC registered 180
violations of the new rules. The recent work of journalistic
disabilities still have a new quality. "The incidents seem to have
been guided by a central government level," said Jocelyn Ford

When applying for the 2001 Olympic Games, the Beijing Organizing
Committee had assured the journalists new freedoms. Wang Wei,
secretary general of the organizing committee, said: "We will ensure
complete media freedom to report when they come to China." A survey of
foreign correspondents in China, however, revealed that 67 percent see
this promise is not fulfilled.

As BOCOG deal with unpleasant topics that could be easily observed on
Thursday, when a press conference was scheduled for the torch relay
protests threatened. Scheduled for one hour, the general remarks and
answers to the questions lasted so long that finally only five
journalists could ask questions. The Chinese government has at least
assured that the 20 500 accredited journalists will have unfettered
access to the Internet during the Games. Whether the usual censorship
in China will be exposed to the entire country or only in certain
hotels and the Beijing Olympic Media Center, is still unclear. After
the riots in Tibet, China tightened the censorship even. "It was
impossible to come to some foreign websites, some e-mails I could not
open for days," said Jocelyn Ford

With a delay of almost a week now report to China's state-censored
media coverage about the events in Tibet. It turned the television
CCTV numerous images that support the official Chinese version of
events: Aggressive Tibetan rioters, looting light the shops and,
injured and shocked Chinese residents; Buddhist monks, the attack
force, Chinese security forces and rescue restrained military police,
the Chinese were injured. At the same time accused the government
newspaper "China Daily" reported on many Western media wrong. Is
underpinned by the figure of some Western Web sites with photos of
demonstrations in Nepal to Tibet or incorrectly locates an image
section was chosen to conceal the fact that military vehicles were
pelted with stones.