China’s Version of Uncensored Internet
China’s definition of ‘freedom’ is epitomised in the two excerpts below, both from New York Times:
“For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. There will be no censorship on the Internet,” Mr. Rogge told Agence France-Presse just two weeks ago.
That was two weeks ago. A lot can change in commie land in that period. For a regime that has thrived on misinformation, this was obviously going to be a little too difficult to implement. And as one would expect, the commie philosophy has prevailed. Look what actually is happening:
Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages – among them those that discuss Tibetan issues, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown on the protests in Tiananmen Square and the Web sites of Amnesty International, the BBC’s Chinese-language news, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.
What fun!
So much for China’s efforts to use the Olympics to display to the world its changed self.
Lyrics for the moment
Calm your asses down the general screams at ease
You practice no justice I convert no peace – El Moro, Outlandish
Akhil Tandulwadikar's Blog 
More about it in today’s news.
The IOC seems to be “helpless” about China’s censorship.
At the same time, the balls-less IOC had no problem banning the Iraqi team because the Iraqi government replaced its national Olympic panel with new members who were not “recognized by the IOC”. Basically the IOC fools used the “government interference” as a factor in the case of Iraq, but for China, they just throw up their hands and lap up what China gives (and doesn’t give). Isn’t that wonderful?
Read this article.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-Iraq-Banned.html
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CHINA’S vow to open up its country to the world through the Olympic Games was in tatters last night as an International Olympic Committee member, Kevan Gosper of Australia, apologised to the global press for misleading them about access to the internet.
Mr Gosper, who is chairman of the press commission and deputy chairman of the IOC Beijing co-ordination commission, revealed that “some IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese to have some sensitive sites blocked”. But he said he was unaware of the deal and had inadvertently misled the world’s media for months about the extent to which they would have unfettered freedom of reporting.
After late night meetings with Beijing Olympic Games organisers, Mr Gosper said he could not “tell China what to do”.
Earlier he told the South China Morning Post: “I am disappointed, but we are dealing with a communist country that has censorship, and you will see what they say you can see.”
Mr Gosper acknowledged that many previous statements about unfettered access and freedom of reporting had been wrong.
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By the time the Olympics is finished, the negative press generated would make China regret why they even bid for the games.
Of course, the commie press will give a positive spin to the whole mess. They are so good at it.
Add to that the pressure their players have on themselves. Read Sandipen Deb’s essay in Indian Express(Sunday).