Beijing Olympics organisers have ‘stymied’ foreign media coverage, group says

Name: Beijing counts down to 2022 Winter Olympics with test event at new skeleton and bobsleigh venue
Uploaded: 2021-11-02T10:33:35.000Z
Duration: 1 min 34 s
Description: Beijing counts down to 2022 Winter Olympics with test event at new skeleton and bobsleigh venue

FCCC urges IOC for more access, saying journalists have been excluded from news conferences, venue visits and other events

Foreign ministry says Covid-19 restrictions have made it necessary to limit access and dismisses claims of insufficient information

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The FCCC statement is the latest sign of tensions between China and the global community over the Winter Olympics. Photo: Reuters

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Published: 6:33pm, 2 Nov 2021Updated: 6:33pm, 2 Nov 2021

China’s foreign press corps urged the International Olympic Committee for greater access to the Beijing Winter Games, complaining that organisers have “continuously stymied” them from covering preparations for the event.

Foreign media staff have over the past year been excluded from news conferences, venue visits and other routine events that were open to domestic media, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a statement on Tuesday. Journalists have been denied access for numerous reasons, including venue capacity, Covid-19 protocols and security concerns, the group said.

“There is still tremendous uncertainty over how and if foreign correspondents will be able to cover the Games,” the FCCC wrote in a statement.

The behaviour failed to uphold IOC charter provisions requiring the body to “ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world” as well as China’s own pledge to give media the freedom to report the Games and their preparations, the group said.

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Beijing counts down to 2022 Winter Olympics with test event at new skeleton and bobsleigh venue

Covid-19 restrictions had made it necessary to limit access at testing sites to a small media pool, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, noting that organisers planned to invite more media to future events. He dismissed the FCCC’s claims of insufficient information, adding that the ministry did not believe the group represented foreign reporters in China.