Freedom of expression NGO, Reporters Without Borders have renewed their criticisim of supposedly 'free media' in China. Authorities in China responded to an open letter from the NGO by stating that the presence of journalists in China was welcomed.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters; "The Chinese government and its people sincerely welcome reporters from around the world to cover the Olympic games and cover China in a fair and objective way" "This position will not change." This statement is interesting in that it has implications outside of the Olympic Games. There will no doubt be successful reporting about the Games themselves, however, there are human stories beyond sport that are of interest to millions of people outside and inside China.

In 2001 China stated that the media would have free and unrestricted access to China during the Games, including unrestricted travel throughout the country, not just in Beijing.

Current criticism from Reporters Without Borders and others relates to reports that Chinese officials are keeping a database on foreign journalists planning to cover the Olympic Games. Authorities have denied this, and some commentators have come out and said that it would be useful for their safety, especially when traveling to outside of Beijing.

Director of the Beijing Olympic organising committee's media centre, Li Zhanjun said a database was being drawn up to help foreign journalists working on the Olympics. The Beijing Olympic Committee Organising Group (BOCOG) has stated that "Some reporters like to cover sport and some others are very interested in politics ... so we have some kind of data and information concerning that," and that information will be transparent and it is to protect foreign journalists.

Missing from this discussion has been any real mention of the double standards that apply to domestic journalists in China. Travel restrictions, threats, surveillance, closure of publications, blogs being shut down and self-censorship are all realities for Chinese journalists. This is not set to ease in the lead up to or during the Olympic Games. Whilst Chinese writers and journalists are in prison for peacefully expressing their opinion online or in print, the International Olympic Committee is praising China for meeting its commitment on media access.

Still 8 months to go - enough time for the consumers of international media to demand human rights stories out of China and enough time to release those Chinese journalists and writers imprisoned.

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