(ATR) The president of Associated Press tells Around the Rings he remains concerned over possible restrictions on coverage of the Beijing Olympics, despite assurances that the media will be allowed to operate freely.
"I think the Games represent an important moment for China," says Tom Curley, in Beijing this week for meetings with Olympics and government leaders to discuss pending regulations for the 2008 Games.
"The world is going to take a look at China and we hope they see this modern China that is open and that we can discover some interesting athletes and fascinating people.
"A China that is telling us how to behave is censoring the conversations we have with those people," says Curley.
The AP chief also attended Monday's annual meeting of the IOC Press Commission as an invited guest. While Curley's main topic was the impact of the internet on delivering the news, he also raised concerns about how the new rules will affect Olympic coverage by the foreign media.
"China is getting a very strong message about the freedom of the press to do their job," says IOC Press Commission chair Kevan Gosper about Curley's comments. Gosper says he believes that Chinese leaders are making progress.
Curley, along with Gosper, will meet Wednesday to discuss A.P.'s concerns with Beijing 2008 President Liu Qi, who as a top leader in the Communist Party of China, is also influential in setting national policy.
Liu has delivered assurances several times in the past year that journalists will be able to travel where needed and speak to whom they wish as part of their coverage of the Olympics. Those promises are supposed to be backed up by the new regulations now being drafted.
Curley says AP has a number of issues to address with Liu and the Chinese, including a proposal that would allow Xinhua news agency to become the overseer of all news agency copy distributed in China, whether from AP from the U.S., Reuters from England, Japan's Kyodo or EFE from Spain.
He is also concerned about Xinhua becoming the financial gatekeeper for the foreign wire services, forcing the wires to use Xinhua as their business agent in China. He says it's not fair play.
"China has eight information industries listed on NASDAQ. They are raising capital in the western markets, they are competing in the western markets," he says.
"Under WTO and other agreements negotiated before WTO, it's not supposed to be one-way, so this would be a direct violation.
"There are major issues here, and that's before you get to freedom of the press and human rights, says Curley. He says the IOC has a role to play in bringing Chinese press policies in line with worldwide practices.
"In terms of the International Olympic Committee, things were put in the [Beijing] bid. It's up to local group to deliver," says Curley.
Gosper says press issues will be one of the items on the agenda next month when the IOC Coordination Commission meets in the Olympic City. And he says IOC President Jacques Rogge will also be able to address those concerns when he visits Beijing in October.
Gosper says it is important for the new press regulations to be in place by early 2007, a year that will bring dozens of test events.
"The test event is not only for the athletes, but for the total operation, which includes one of the biggest stakeholders, the media."
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