In advance of hosting the next Summer Olympic Games, China continues to bully journalists, and a human rights group says the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ignored its responsibility to do something about it. 

In a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogges yesterday, Reporters Without Borders (or RSF, the acronym for its French name) blamed the abuses on his inaction.

"Mr. Rogge, it is your silence that has unfortunately made all these abuses possible," said RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard in the letter, referring to the roughly 100 journalists and human rights activists who are currently detained in China.

Since Beijing adopted new rules allowing foreign journalists to work more freely in China 11 months ago, Ménard said RSF has documented more than 50 cases of harassment of journalists, demonstrating the new rules have not taken effect. The relaxed rules expire in October 2008 following the close of the Olympic Games.

On Nov. 20, Barbara Lüthi, the Beijing correspondent of the Swiss TV channel Schweizer Fernsehen, and her Chinese camerawoman were detained for seven hours and beaten by authorities in a village near Beijing where unrest led to the deaths of several residents in 2005, according to RSF. RSF said local authorities have prevented at least five foreign journalists from working in the village.

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Also on Nov. 20, Mathias Brascheler and Monika Fisher, a Swiss husband-and-wife team of photographers, were detained for three hours in Hubei province while preparing a report on villagers who had been threatened and beaten in connection with a land dispute, according to RSF.

A spokesperson for the IOC said that a great deal of effort is being made by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games (BOCOG) and the Chinese authorities to uphold Beijing's assurances that there will be no restrictions on journalists reporting on the Olympic Games.   

"There is work still to do, but the IOC believes in the good will of the Chinese to deliver the necessary environment for the 20,000 accredited media who will come for the Games. The IOC is working closely with BOCOG to encourage and guide their work so that the assurances can be delivered," a spokesperson said.

A Chinese Embassy spokesman said that China, like all countries, has some "off-limits" areas where journalists should not go, and that there has always been a gap between the requirements of journalists and the requirements of various governments of countries. He said that China has already set in place rules for reporting on the Beijing Olympic Games, and it will stick to its commitment and will try its best to provide service to create "favorable conditions for foreign and Chinese reporters."

Ménard also expressed concern that the Games' organizers said this week they were going to conduct ID checks on all accredited journalists covering the Games and that China's General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) announced it was going to compile files on the approximately 30,000 journalists coming to the Games. 

RSF Asia director Vincent Brossel said that in light of China's human rights history, such close surveillance of journalists caused RSF to fear vast censorship of the Games. 

The IOC office said all people that are accredited for the Olympic Games will receive a background check by the local security authorities.

"This is a standard security procedure [and] is not new to the Beijing Games," a spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that at the Games all accredited media's details will be held on a database in order to facilitate the accreditation process. "This is only natural and is the same as for previous editions of the Games. For non-accredited media, inquiries should be addressed to the Chinese Foreign Ministry for more information."

The Chinese Embassy spokesman said that no such files would be kept on foreign journalists and that the Chinese Foreign Ministry had clarified such misleading reporting two weeks ago.

"Journalists need to register with the Olympic organizational committee according to standard procedure, but there is no plan to establish a database on journalists," the spokesman said.

RSF is one of several groups outraged by China's continued crackdown on free press. In August,  the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a report to illustrate the "yawning gap" between China's poor press freedom record and the promises made in 2001 when Beijing was awarded the Olympic Games.

"We're 10 months away, and there is still not a free flow of information," said CPJ Asia program coordinator Bob Dietz.

Dietz said China has fallen short thus far in its pledge to the international community.

"Chinese journalists are in jail. Vast censorship rules are in place. Harassment, attacks and threats occur with impunity," he said.

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