IOC agreed to web censorship: official

Last Updated: Thursday, July 31, 2008 | 2:21 PM ET

CBC Sports

The head of the International Olympic Committee's press commission suggested Thursday that IOC president Jacques Rogge gave in to Chinese plans to censor internet access for journalists during the Beijing Games.

Kevin Gosper said he was surprised to learn earlier this week that reporters had been denied access to politically sensitive websites such as that of Amnesty International, which has accused China of failing to live up to its promise to improve human rights.

Other sites dealing with Tibet, Tiananmen Square or the spiritual group Falun Gong were also blocked in the work rooms for journalists covering the Aug. 8-24 Olympics.

China routinely filters internet access for its own citizens, but said during the Olympics bidding process that foreign media would have "complete freedom to report" at the Games.

Gosper, Rogge and others have publicly said the Chinese government agreed to unblock the web during the games, and they touted the shift as a sign of the Olympics' liberalizing effect on China.

But Gosper admitted this week that the promise will apply only to sites related to "Olympic competitions."

'Contrary to normal circumstances of reporting'

The reversal, Gosper said, left him feeling like the "fall guy."

"I would be surprised if someone made a change without at least informing" Rogge, Gosper said in an interview Thursday. "But I really do not know the detail. I only know the ground rules on censorship have changed but have only been announced here. It must have related to a former understanding to which I was not a party."

"This certainly isn't what we guaranteed the international media and it's certainly contrary to normal circumstances of reporting on Olympic Games," added Gosper, a long-serving IOC member from Australia.

Rogge arrived in Beijing on Thursday, but declined to speak as he left the airport.

Television broadcasters have also said that Beijing is reneging on promises for unfettered access and live broadcasts. The complaints add to other controversies over pollution and human rights that have tarnished an Olympics which the government hoped would showcase China as an open, rising power.

Gosper said he first learned of China's backtracking on internet access when Beijing organizing committee spokesman Sun Weide announced Tuesday that journalists would have only "sufficient" — not unrestricted — access to the internet.

Reporters try to skirt censors

Since then, Gosper said he has felt "a bit isolated" within the IOC and was surprised at being left out of the loop.

"I suspect an agreement has been reached, or an understanding has been reached," Gosper said. "It may well have been done by the executive board, done in another place by very senior people in the IOC. It may have taken into consideration new circumstances in this year leading up to the Games where there has been quite a lot of trauma around China, and within China."

Gosper was referring to deadly riots in March in Tibet, followed by chaotic protests on international stages of the torch relay. On May 12 an earthquake struck southwest China, killing nearly 70,000 people.

Some journalists are trying to find ways to skirt the internet censors in China.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders published a guide Wednesday with tips on how to get around firewalls, lock computer files and find safe translators.

The guide advised reporters to conduct phone calls and write e-mails with the knowledge that they may be monitored.