Olympic Game Issues

Recent news has revealed that officials of the International Olympic Committee have allowed China to block sensitive websites despite promises of free access.

China had committed to giving the media the same freedom to report on the games as in previous Olympics, but journalists have been finding certain websites blocked. They have been unable to access sites that are considered sensitive to China's communist leadership.

IOC officials went along with the censorship because the blocked pages were not related to the Games.

Though I don't have any kind of hatred towards China's communist ideals I don't think it's fair for them to keep reporters from other countries from accessing information they would be able to see if they were at home. Journalists who are in China reporting on the Games have every right to be angry at the IOC for negotiating with China because they don't have the same resources as other journalists.

Reporters at the main press center were unable to access reports from Amnesty International accusing China of failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges as well as websites related to the spiritual group Falun Gong.

Beijing organizers have said the censorship would not keep foreign reporters from covering the games

"We are going to do our best to facilitate the foreign media to do their reporting work through the Internet," BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide told a news conference.

Though journalists will still have the resources to report on the Games, they will not have same resources to report on issues involving China as journalists in other countries. It doesn't make sense to me that the people who are actually in the country would have the largest handicap.

Journalists who are in China should continue to criticize the IOC for negotiating with China. It's also important for journalists in other countries to let the IOC know how they feel about the issue.

More statements like the one below might help keep further censorship from arising.

"We condemn the IOC's failure to do anything about this, and we are more skeptical about its ability to ensure that the media are able to report freely," the group said in a statement.

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