Olympic broadcasters battle Chinese for access

Despite gleaming venues and 70,000 smiling volunteers, the image of Beijing Olympics may become that of police waving their hands in front of cameras, hoping to block photos. This happened several weeks ago when a reporter for German TV ZDF — a rights holder — had a live interview stopped on the Great Wall of China. Police walked in front of the camera and showed their open palms to the lens.

Correspondent Johannes Hano said he had the correct permits, and permission from countless authorities. He was told to stop his interview because the on-camera expert on the Great Wall was an American who was not licensed to speak about the iconic monument.

"They can always seem to find a reason," Hano said.

NBC Sports has opted to focus much of its live coverage from the Olympic Green area, the location of the Bird's Nest National Stadium and the Water Cube, the venue for swimming.

Tiananmen isn't much of an option. Chinese security police have banned helicopters from flying over the landmark to capture the start of the marathon. They've also banned helicopters when the race returns to Tiananmen at the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) mark.

Top NBC Sports officials have turned down numerous requests by The Associated Press for interviews about the restrictions.

The IOC has been criticized for not pushing China harder to keep promises it made in 2001 when it won the bid, and bid leader Wang Wei said: "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."

China's government was praised after the May 12 Sichuan earthquake for allowing Chinese and foreign journalists to report freely. But coverage of a natural disaster may differ from the highly stage-managed Olympics, where the reputation of the Communist Party leadership is on the line.

Discussing the issue of access to the games, a Chinese journalism professor expressed confidence in the government.

"I believe in China, more and more people — especially those in the leadership roles — have realized that the right for people to know the facts in their environment is not only legitimate but also necessary," said Gao Gang, professor and executive dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China.

Sandy MacIntyre, director of news for APTN, said "things have improved dramatically" in the last few weeks. But he said he recently received a notice from Chinese authorities saying the broadcaster would have to give 24- or 72-hour notice to move a satellite truck around Beijing.

"There shouldn't be any notice at all needed to go live," MacIntyre said. "All of these rules should never have come down to the wire like this."

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