CHINA:China has fallen short of its promise to ensure full media freedom ahead of the Beijing Olympics, despite a relaxation of rules governing foreign journalists this year, and harassment of foreign reporters is still common, according to a survey by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC), writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing.
While 43 per cent of the 163 correspondents in the survey said the situation has improved since the government relaxed reporting regulations on January 1st this year, 95 per cent said they did not think reporting conditions in China met what they called international standards.
They reported more than 157 incidents, including intimidation of sources, detentions, surveillance, official reprimands and even violence against correspondents, their staff and sources.
The new rules allow the foreign press corps to travel and report more freely across most of the country in the run-up to the games, which start on August 8th next year. The regulations are due to expire on October 17th, although officials have indicated they may be extended beyond that if they are successful.
When Beijing was bidding for the Olympics in 2001, Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), promised to give international media "complete freedom to report when they come to China".
Until last year, foreign journalists were required to obtain government permission to report outside their home base, which generally means Beijing or Shanghai, but under the new rules they need only the agreement of the person they are interviewing. The new rules do not affect travel to Tibet, and several foreign journalists travelling there have been called into the foreign ministry for "criticism" of stories.
The government keeps a tight rein on new rules that cover only foreign journalists and do not apply to Chinese journalists working in the domestic media.
China is gearing up to host about 20,000 Olympic-accredited and 10,000 non-accredited media during the two-week event, which is more than twice the number of athletes due to attend the event.
FCCC president Melinda Liu said the group welcomed the progress that has been made.
"However, we urge the Chinese government to accelerate efforts to eliminate all media restrictions, and to ensure appropriate implementation of policies. We're especially concerned by many reports of intimidation of sources," said Ms Liu.
"A nation where citizens who speak to foreign correspondents face threats, reprisals and even bodily harm does not live up to the world's expectations of an Olympic host," she said.
Among the problems they cited was insufficient access to government officials, particularly the country's top leadership.