The World and I

I am still trying to think of any OlympicGames that has received as much media coverage as Beijing 2008. It started whenthe IOC announced that Beijing had won their bid to host it. Since then sportsand politics have been highly intertwined. Whether it was to do with Darfur,freedom of speech or climate change, China was in the spotlight, especially nowin the week with the build up to the games.

BBC News had an interesting story on theissue of freedom of press. A BBC reporter went to interview Chinese citizensfor their opinions. The reporter showed that like in pervious years, securityand police were there in no time to check visas and credentials of the press.However, he also pointed out that instead of being detained and questioned fortwo hours, the police just moved on. He claimed that before the Olympic Gamesthis would not have been possible. Similarly, the handful of protestors thathave spotted Beijing with their Tibetan flags and pro-life posters have beenarrested but not detained for any significant period of time (although the headof Team Darfur had his visa retracted a day before the Games started).

However, whilst I applaud these positivedevelopments, it also makes me wonder two things: will this last past theOlympics, and are Chinese citizens experiencing the same leniency and freedomsas the foreign press who are showing pictures of china around the world? Isincerely hope these positive developments hold and perhaps that the momentumwill carry through to perhaps other areas as well – we will soon find out.Until then the international press is certainly enjoying their newfoundfreedoms.