olympics

When the International Olympic Committee released its review of Beijing's August Games a few days ago, it didn't hold back from patting itself or China's government on the back. The Games were, to quote the IOC's fact sheet, "by almost every measure, an indisputable success." One of the intangible results the IOC mentioned was that "unprecedented international attention from journalists, activist organizations and foreign leaders highlighted China's strengths as well as its shortcomings." 

China's decision to extend or end the eased restrictions on foreign journalists it put in place for the Olympics is almost a moot point. The decision is expected to be announced tomorrow, and in the past, officials have suggested the new rules will be extended. But a change in the rules will be largely irrelevant to how reporters, foreign and Chinese, operate in China. The government's censorship apparatus is still operating at peak strength, and there will be no change in its policy of controlling media coverage. 

Watch carefully as the Chinese media report on the explosive story of tainted baby formula. The most recent break came from Central China Television (CCTV), the government's official, flagship broadcaster. CCTV reported that an industrial chemical, melamine, has been discovered in milk products--everything from yogurt to ice cream as well as baby formula--from 22 companies nationwide. So far, products from more than 100 companies had been tested. The first company to admit to a problem was Sanlu, the third-largest milk product manufacturer in China. 

At the Foreign Ministry's weekly press conference today, Jiang Yu, the ministry's spokeswoman, left hanging for now whether or not China will continue allowing foreign journalists to travel around China without asking permission from the government, or whether they will be allowed to interview anyone who agrees to speak with them. The new relaxed rules were temporarily put into place in January 2007, as part of China's pledge to allow reporters unrestricted freedom during the Olympic Games. China had made the broad promise of unrestricted coverage in 2001, when it was bidding to win this summer's Games.

The Apple iTunes store Web site and all 8 million or so of its songs, ("Imagine an entertainment superstore that's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week" the site urges) are not available in China and haven't been for more than a week. Not a great loss for iTunes in the very short run, it hasn't made a great effort to target the China market, but most likely damaging for Apple's future efforts there. Apple still hasn't found a Chinese carrier to partner with to support the iPhone, though it is actively looking for one.

Thanks to Greg Walton, the Asia editor for Infowar Monitor, for passing along this New Scientist article about the rapid commercialization of Internet and e-mail monitoring technology. You can access a preview of Laura Margottini's piece, but you'll need a subscription to the magazine or buy online access to get the full article. It's worth it. For context, Greg added these pdf links in his e-mail message. They're Siemens documents describing one of the products discussed in her piece.

Bob Dietz called attention to the Chinese propaganda department's recent 21-point press directive, first reported by the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. The whole thing in English and Chinese is posted today at Berkeley's China Digital Times. Among the orders given to the domestic media during the Olympic Games is that they are not to report on the protest zones set up at three places around Beijing. This apparently holds true even if they are empty, which they are.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China just released its updated list of "cases of reporting interference." What's reporting interference? I'll let the FCCC's reporters speak for themselves:

Since the beginning of the Olympic period on July 25, the day the Main Press Center officially opened, the FCCC has received more than 30 confirmed cases of reporting interference. This includes 10 cases of violence, more than the total number confirmed in the whole of 2007, and 8 cases of damage to equipment or destruction of photos.