China has come clean admitting journalists won't have access to an uncensored Internet – and to make it worse some International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials apparently made a deal to let Chinese authorities block some websites.

China has promised the media would have the same freedom to report on the Beijing Games as they had had at previous Olympics. Just two weeks ago, the IOC's president, Jacques Rogge, said "there will be no censorship of the internet."

But this week journalists complained that they couldn't access some websites – including ours, Amnesty International, after we released an unflattering report about the state of human rights in China.

Negotiated with China

The IOC knew some sites would be blocked, says the head of the organisation's press commission, Australia's Kevan Gosper, in a story which ran in The Australian this morning.

The IOC had earlier denied knowing of China's plans to restrict the Internet for foreign journalists and said it was lobbying for the restrictions to be lifted.

The Australian quotes Kevan Gosper:

" … "(Recently) I have also been advised that some of the IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked," …

" ... "If you have been misled by what I have told you about there being free Internet access during the Games, then I apologise." …"

Sensitive websites

Kevan Gosper says that the IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive websites would be blocked on the basis they weren't considered to relate to the Olympic Games, reports Reuters.

Chinese-language news websites apparently blocked include the BBC, Voice of America, Hong Kong's Apple Daily and Taiwan's Liberty Times, reports the BBC.

The websites of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also inaccessible, as are some of the sites related to sensitive issues, such as Tibet and 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Inside the press centre

In this video report BBC's China correspondent James Reynolds visits the press centre, logs on to the net and finds out what sites he can and can't access.

Journalists "are entering an environment in which media freedom is not a granted, they are entering the heart of a system that is intrinsically hostile to media freedom", says Human Rights Watch's Phelim Kine in this AP video – it's the same one as at the top of this page.

Other sites reportedly blocked are the German news outlet Deutsche Welle and US-based Radio Free Asia, Chinese Wikipedia, various Uighur rights group sites, a popular online student forum, and sites about the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Journalists won't be hindered

But the Olympic organisers in Beijing say censorship won't stop journalists doing their jobs in reporting on the Games, reports Reuters.

" … "We are going to do our best to facilitate the foreign media to do their reporting work through the Internet," BOCOG (Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) spokesman Sun Weide told a news conference.

" "I would remind you that Falun Gong is an evil, fake religion which has been banned by the Chinese government." …"

Another broken promise

Such blatant censorship means another promise broken by China, and it further undermines the claim that the Games would help improve the country's human rights.

For more info on what Amnesty International thinks check out our press release.

And let us know what you think about what has happened. Is partial censorship acceptable? What do you think of China's actions and the actions of the IOC?