Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Olympics: "Let the censoring begin!"

China and the Olympics ... an oxymoron? It would have seemed so ... until the Games were awarded to China. Now we will see how that secretive country handles the world coming to its soil.

Immediately out of the gate it does not look promising. Media are going to be limited in their internet access by Chinese officials during the Olympics, according to Breitbart.com, who reported:
China will censor the Internet used by foreign media during the Olympics, an organising committee official confirmed Wednesday, reversing a pledge to offer complete media freedom at the games.

"During the Olympic Games we will provide sufficient access to the Internet for reporters," said Sun Weide, spokesman for the organising committee.
[emphasis added]
With the Chinese government censoring unspecified websites, it could be a clash of the West meeting the East ... the Western journalists who are used to having most everything their way ... and the Chinese government that is used to having most everything its way.

"Let the censoring begin!" The fun starts 8-8-08.

1 comment:

Jason Bibeau said...

This country (China) represents one of the last vestiges of a pathetic and horrific form of human control; communism in a mannor "Uncle Joe" wouldn't even have thought of. This will allow the world to see and not ignore how China treats it's people and it's absolute refusal to let it's people see the real world.

I'm looking forward to seeing how China deals with western journalists who aren't used to and don't deal well with not being able to get "the story out". If China tries to lock up a journalist during the games, the world will not tollerate this, which should be very entertaining.