Amid the fanfare of the Olympic opening ceremony today, a press release from Human Rights in China highlights pressure on dissidents and their families as Chinese authorities try to quash anything that threatens to disturb the long-awaited Games. Police are watching jailed journalist Lu Gengsong’s wife and daughter, and they told the wife of recently…
Images steal the day. Web sites around China were live-streaming the opening ceremony this evening (even as NBC insisted on broadcasting endless tips on Chinese manners, saving the Big Show for American prime time). Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily re-launched their sites to showcase photos. On 8/8/08 at 8 p.m., images beamed across the world of…
With the arrival of 8.8.08, the Olympics begin. But even with the fireworks and fanfare, China’s human rights record is still the focus of many news reports today, including coverage from Agence France-Presse, an editorial in The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporting from The Chicago Tribune, and a blog as well as an article from The Wall…
With the opening of the Beijing Games tonight, there is plenty being written about China’s emergence on the world stage and its assumption of a global leadership role, definitely on its own terms. But my favorite story of the day sets aside all the political and historical analysis and goes right to the competitive Olympic…
Last night, a staffer at Radio Television Hong Kong told me that he is worried about the timing of the appointment of a new head for RTHK. An official government announcement Thursday, the day before the Olympic Games open, said that 65-year-old Franklin Wong Wah-kay will become RTHK’s new head. A long-time Hong Kong government…
Journalists in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, today reported that police interrogated the editors of Awramba Times and Harambe, two fledgling independent current affairs weeklies over a series of political stories. Officers questioned Dawit Kebede of Awramba Times over editorials and interviews in five separate editions of his newspaper since April, Deputy Editor and lawyer…
On Tuesday, CPJ reported that Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko had signed a new media law allowing authorities to further restrict press freedom by controlling what is published on the Internet. Belarus is on CPJ’s list of the world’s Most Censored Countries. Journalists are not the only ones denied freedom of expression. “Belarusian Waltz,” an upcoming…
On the eve of the opening ceremony, Xinhua News Agency waxes philosophical about the torch’s journey tomorrow to the Bird’s Nest, its home for the next three weeks. It hasn’t been an easy road, and Xinhua refers to the “obstacles” the torch encountered in foreign cities, as well as the Sichuan earthquake in May that…
The Bangkok Post has coverage of our alert from last night that called for a full government investigation into the killing of Thai journalist Athiwat Chaiyanurat. Also out of Thailand, reaction to President Bush’s speech in Bangkok takes center stage across the news media today. CNN.com outlines Bush’s comments and China’s response. The New York…
Despite all the security around the Games, two protesting groups did manage to get their messages out yesterday. Students for a Free Tibet managed to climb two light standards near the heavily guarded, iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium and display pro-Tibet banners for more than an hour. Later in the day, three Americans protesting China’s birth…