CCTV imagines a perfect world

cctv_building_january_2008.jpg

Large and in charge

CCTV is making up news stories again with a report titled Olympic press freedom hailed by foreign media:

It’s been a year since the government issued regulations giving foreign journalists more freedom to cover stories in the country.

China will provide better assistance, a better environment, and better access for foreign reporters to work in the country. Senior officials reiterated this commitment at an annual reception for journalists from around the world.

Liu Jianchao, Foreign Ministry Spokesman said “Throughout the year, we’ve found the journalists have enjoyed better access to information. We expect more journalists to come to China provide better assistance for them.”

It’s a shame the only evidence of foreign media hailing the new press freedoms that CCTV could find was one Ukrainian journalist who said “This regulation is needy and timely, we felt it much easy to work, more access to officials to report. I hope this will not be an end.”

At least they left that last sentence in.

CCTV apparently did not feel the need to get any opinions from the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Beijing, an organization not recognized by the Chinese government but which actually does represent the interests of foreign journalists in China. The FCC had this to say in a report issued in August 2007:

Although many correspondents say reporting conditions are improving, “China has yet to meet its Olympic pledge to give international media complete freedom to report, a majority of survey respondents believe. Harassment of foreign correspondents, their staff and sources remains common.”

For more on this issue, you may wish to download a report about press freedom and 2008 from the Committee to Protect Journalists: Falling Short.

This entry was posted in Propaganda and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.