Media Face Web Censorship at Beijing Olympics

China has reneged on a pledge to provide journalists covering the Beijing Games with unrestricted internet access, Olympic officials have admitted.

Kevan Gosper, a senior member of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) who is overseeing the games, said yesterday that the only uncensored websites journalists at the event would have access to were those related to "Olympic competitions".

The admission contradicts China's promise to grant the international media "complete freedom to report" at the games, which it made seven years ago when bidding to host the Olympics.

The blocks on internet sites in the main press center, which will house about 5,000 journalists, and other Olympic venues will make it difficult to retrieve information, particularly on political and human rights stories the government dislikes.

Journalists at the main press center yesterday found they were unable to access sites such as Amnesty International or any site with Tibet in the URL. Some also complained about slow speeds, suggesting it might be an intentional ploy to discourage use.

"This type of censorship would have been unthinkable in Athens, but China seems to have more formalities," said Mihai Mironica, a journalist with ProTV in Romania. "If journalists cannot fully access the internet here, it will definitely be a problem."

And in April, Gosper and another senior IOC member, Hein Verbruggen, said they had received assurances from Chinese officials that web censorship would be lifted for journalists during the games. But Gosper yesterday said the IOC had only negotiated free access to sites about the games.

"My preoccupation and responsibility is to ensure that the games competitions are reported openly to the world," he said.

"The regulatory changes we negotiated with Bocog [Beijing Olympic Games], and which required Chinese legislative changes were to do with reporting on the games. This didn't necessarily extend to free access and reporting on everything that relates to China."

IOC officials have said the internet would be operational by "games time," which began on Sunday, when the Olympic village opened.

The IOC has maintained the Olympics is a sports event, and it should not intervene in politics. But human rights activists and media groups have criticized the IOC for failing to hold China to the promises made seven years ago when it won the bid.

"It is truly sad to see the IOC fail in this regard," said Vincent Brossell, a spokesman for the Paris-based press rights group Reporters Without Borders.