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Media

Beijing vs TV Networks: Olympic Media Showdown

By thomascrampton ⋅ June 9, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Let the games begin!

With the August 8 opening of the Olympic games only weeks away, confidential meeting minutes reveal ongoing battles between TV networks and Beijing Olympic organizers.

In the meeting, which took place a week or so ago, points of contention included new limits on live coverage and allegations that shipments of TV equipment have been held up in Chinese ports

“I think what I have heard here are just a number of conditions or requirements that are just not workable,” said IOC official Gilbert Felli, according to minutes of the May 29 meeting obtained by reporter Stephen Wade of the Associated Press. “There are a number of things that are just not feasible.”

Some TV executives were upset that the government looks like it will not permit live coverage from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This is a change from two months ago when IOC officials in Beijing said China had agreed to allow such live coverage.

“The Chinese are very concerned about something going wrong — and so they are in Olympic gridlock,” said John Barton, director of sport for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, which represents broadcasters in 57 countries. “They are suffocating the television coverage in the crazy pursuit of security. They can’t secure the event. Nothing can be totally secure, yet they are trying to do that.”

The tone of the meeting’s minutes is a stark contrast to public statements from the IOC.

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Media, Olympics, beijing

Discussion

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Comments for “Beijing vs TV Networks: Olympic Media Showdown”

  • Hmmm.... Why am I not at all surprised?

    Could it be that with TorchTibet, earthquakes, and everything else, the Chinese government is thinking that becoming an economic superpower and getting all that attention may well be a knife which cuts both ways?

    Maybe hosting the Olympics was just a bad idea on Jiang Zemin's part, just like the French-designed 300M sunnyside up egg of an opera house just off Tiananmen.

    Maybe being poor and underdeveloped has its advantages after all. Then nobody cares what you do. Can we do a reset?

    How about calling it China's Pain In the Arse Rise (for the Chinese)? If we knew it would be this much trouble, we would have continued staying poor and supporting proletarian revolutions and fighting imperialism all over the world instead.
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thomascramptonconf

Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...