- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday denied knowing in advance of China’s plans to restrict the Internet for foreign media and said it was pushing for curbs to be lifted.
With just over a week to go before the Games open, journalists from overseas were unable to access several sites on the Internet offered at the main press centre on Wednesday.
Australia’s Kevan Gosper, the head of the IOC’s press commission, told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday that the IOC knew some sites would be blocked.
“(Recently) I have also been advised that some of the IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked,” the Hong Kong-based newspaper quoted Gosper as saying in an exclusive interview.
“If you have been misled by what I have told you about there being free Internet access during the Games, then I apologise.”
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the IOC had been made aware of China’s plans to censure the Internet during the August 8-24 Olympics in previous talks with the Beijing Olympic organising committee (BOCOG).
“The IOC holds regular discussions with BOCOG on providing the media with the kind of Internet access and facilities they need to report on the Games,” Davies told AFP.
“They have always made clear that some websites would be an issue, and we’re working with them to ensure the media face the minimum possible restrictions.”
However, she later clarified her statement to say that BOCOG, when referring to Internet restrictions, had spoken only of pornographic sites and sites sensitive for national security reasons.
“It would be incorrect to say that we knew in advance that China was to restrict certain sites and we are pushing for those restrictions to be blocked,” Davies said.
“They were talking about restrictions that are similar to those that exist in other countries.”
However, she said the IOC was seeking a meeting with Chinese authorities and would push for free access to news sites such as the BBC and Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster, that were also blocked on Wednesday.
Senior IOC officials, including president Jacques Rogge, have previously said that journalists visiting China to cover the Olympics would have unimpeded access to the Internet.
In an exclusive interview with AFP two weeks ago, Rogge insisted that there would be no censorship of the Internet during the Games.
However, several sites were blocked on Wednesday, including those of the Tibet government-in-exile, dissident groups, Amnesty International, and others giving information about the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in which the Chinese military crushed democracy protests.