Wanting to make sure that nothing soils the positive image Beijing wants to put forth on the Olympics, Chinese journalists are now apparently under orders not to mention the Olympics and the murder of an American tourist in the same story.

Kind of hard to do when the victim was the father-in-law of the U.S. men’s volleyball team.

No one is claiming the murder was related to the Olympics or part of any conspiracy to throw the Americans off their game.

But following a press conference by the US team, Chinese authorities confiscated the notebook and recorders of the CHINESE reporters leaving the room.

Read the full story here: China’s media censored over stabbing

As the article points out, there appears to be a double standard (as usual) for Chinese and Western journalists. Confiscating reporters’ notebooks after a politically touchy situation is commonplace in China. It’s just a few optimists had hoped that that the relaxed rules for journalists during the Olympics would extend to the local reporters.

Fat chance.

It would be nice to hear more from the US journalism organizations about this double standard. The international groups have regularly commented on this double standard — way before the Olympics, so there is little to surprise people there. Only the Americans seem surprised at the way the Chinese government is acting.

Wonder why?

John Hopkins brought forward a piece in Forbes late last month on Dark Journalism. This is where real and fake journalists demand bribes to prevent bad news from coming out.

Excerpt from the story:

What happened in that brief encounter that could make a fatal mine accident magically disappear? “Black journalism,” according to our guide on the scene, a man known only as Old Zhao, a self-described businessman and journalist who arranged our meeting with the pair of reporters. Before going up to Director Li’s office, the two younger men had huddled with Old Zhao, who then bluntly explained the reason FORBES couldn’t go into the meeting. With a foreigner present, “it would be impossible for Li to pay them.”

Now, things have improved in China but did anyone ever think this kind of corruption would end?

When I spoke to journalism classes in Shanghai 15 years ago I wanted to know what drove the students to be journalists. I asked the students to raise their hands if they agreed with any of the statements:

I want to be a journalist because:

1. I like to write and tell stories about real people
2. I want to find out what is going on and let the rest of the Chinese people know.
3. I want to find out what is going on before anyone else so I can profit from it.

I got a couple of hands up on #1 and a couple of hands up on #2 but a vast majority of the classes of 30-40 students came up on #3.

When Chinese companies have press conferences to announce a new product or plant opening the Chinese reporters get red envelopes with cash. Officially the journalists and companies say the money is to provide “transportation” money but the amounts are way more than the cost of a taxi or subway ride. And the money is not given to the Western reporters.

A Shanghai editor told me (15 years ago) that if a company does not give the money, no story or a negative story is done.

Many of the reporters I met in Shanghai had two jobs. They just wrote their stories from press releases and government dictates and then went on to what they considered their real jobs.

Granted things have changed in 15 years. There are more daring journalists in China but no one should be surprised that corruption in journalism in China is rare.

But this is surprising to many because the reporting from China and the rest of the world is so one-dimensional and so US oriented. There is damn little in process stories that help us better understand what is going on in other countries.

By Margarita Antidze

MEGVREKISI, Georgia (Reuters) – Fighting raged in and around the capital of Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region on Friday as Georgian troops, backed by tanks and warplanes, pounded separatist forces in a bid to re-take the territory.

Rest of story

Why is this important?

First, this is a volitile area that is getting way too little attention from the American media.

Second, there is a struggling movement of journalists who are trying to break free of the old Soviet mentality of government control. They are supported by a number of groups from the West (sadly no Americans).

Now Georgian journalists are under fire in the battle betweeen the Georgian government and separatists from South Ossetia.

Here is the latest report from the journalism side:

[2008-08-08 | 13:09:59]
On the Morning of August 8 Fire was Commenced against Georgian Journalists in Tskhinvali Region
On the Morning of August 8 separatist armed units commenced fire against Georgian journalists in the Ergneti village, Rustavi 2 broadcasting company informs. Three shots were made against Rustavi 2, Imedi TV and GPB camera crews, having arrived in Ergneti (close to Tskhinvali) to conduct filming, but the crews were to leave the territory soon, Rustavi 2 informs. Since August 7 the fire against journalists has been observed for the second time now. Luckily no one has been injured. Severe fights are ongoing in Tskhinvali region and on the adjacent territory. The Russian aviation keeps shelling Georgian towns.

All Rights Reserved to Internews Georgia.
When using this information media.ge must be mentioned.

A friend of mine in Hong Kong passed on a map that shows where 176 of the victims of the brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square were killed.

The map was made with the help of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of Chinese who are seeking a full accounting of the events of June 4, 1989 from the Chinese government.

Just something to keep in mind while you watch the Olympics or get ready for the session at the national convention on covering China.

For reporters visiting China for the first time, getting around the Great Firewall of China might prove daunting.

Even though Beijing has lifted some of the restrictions on the Internet — notice the word “some” — a large portion of the Internet remains blocked in the Olympics Media Center.

Chinese computer users have long figured out how to get around the 120,000 or so censors and web monitors employed by the Chinese central government

Now the Global Internet Freedom Consortium is offering anti-censorship tools to get around the blocks.

Here is a stroy from PCWorld about the group and software: Group Offers Tools to Evade China’s Web Censorship

From the New York Times 8/2/08 at the end of an article about how more Internet sites might be opened up for access soon:

Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee, had said in an interview in Beijing in March: “The commitment we have obtained from the authorities is that there will be no restrictions for the media. You will have the same Internet access as you’d have at home.”

Of course in my own cynical way I bet Sun added under his breath, “if we were in charge at your home.”

There is a long history of Chinese leaders and defenders not understanding that the way they have done business in their country and with their people does not work with the rest of the world. They use phrases such as “press freedom” and “democracy” but they apply their own definitions to those words. Anyone who lives and works in China understands that what Beijing describes as press freedom is not what the rest of the world accepts.

Reporters who are based in China were not surprised about the Internet blocks. It’s a daily event and something to work around. There are complaints and criticisms to be sure. And there have been regular stories about how the authorities block the Internet and how the savvy computer users in China get around the Great China Firewall.

It was only after the press center was opened at the Olympic Village and reporters who have never been to China before started flowing in that the issue really came to the forefront.

And I still don’t understand how anyone could be surprised this happened. It is a natural as breathing air for the Beijing authorities to attempt to control media access and information in a hamfisted manner.

It now looks as if some blocks against web sites have been lifted by the Chinese authorities.

The folks inside the Olympics Village bubble can now visit the Amnesty International and BBC Chinese language sites.

Filters on “subversive” words remain in place, however. So reporters in the village should not expect to be able to look for items dealing with the Falun Gong, Taiwan independence or the Dali Lama.

New York Times, 8/1/08
Restrictions on Net Access in China Seem Relaxed