Media holes cast doubt on China's Olympic warm-up

The dazzling fireworks that opened and closed Beijing's glorified "warm-up" for the 2008 Olympics, the World University Games, were seen and heard by millions around the city.

Less noticed -- and completely unreported in the Chinese media -- were two nasty accidents: young children were among at least a dozen onlookers who suffered burns when fireworks crashed from the sky.

Several mainland reporters said they never heard about the fiery drizzle witnesses say fell outside the Workers Stadium during a practice run on August 20 and inside the stands during the Games finale on September 1.

"But even if we did we would not be able to write anything -- it would be a shame," said Ma Yuezhou, a reporter for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily and one of around 2,000 covering the much-hyped event.

The incidents have raised questions about Beijing's pledge to uphold press freedom at the 2008 Olympics.

Obsessed by a desire to project a positive image to a carefully watching world, Beijing risks giving the opposite impression with bouts of heavy-handed censorship.

Anywhere else in the world the burns injuries would have been just another short accident report, said a reporter sent to cover the Games by a newspaper in a nearby industrial city.

"There's a lot we can say now, especially outside the capital," he said. "But now everything's about Beijing and the Olympics."

PRIDE AT STAKE

The accidents -- along with stalled traffic, muddle-headed shuttle drivers and tardy results reporting -- were among the few slip-ups during the games lauded by visiting IOC chief Jacques Rogge as "a benchmark for the future".

The "best ever", was how George Killian, president of the University Games government body, described the event.

Not for the victims of the fireworks accidents, who are now pressing for compensation. But even they feel torn between their legal rights and national pride.

Granted, the victims' burns were not life-threatening.

"Only a few were third-degree," said Li Xue, a spokeswoman at the Number 292 Army Hospital where 11 victims, including students and small children, were taken for treatment.

The University Games organising committee, anxious to keep the case from smearing its stellar record, "has been very willing to cooperate" so far with those injured, said one victim seeking compensation for medical and legal bills.

"They've admitted there was a problem and they're going to investigate" said the victim, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They really want to save face," he said.

"Actually, I'm traditional too," he added. "I'm pro-China. I don't want to give my country problems -- as long as I get treated with the proper respect.

"But this did happen, so you should be able to write about it," he continued. "It was just an accident."

Then he repeated his demand that the details of his case be kept private.

"Reporting this may help in the long run, but why should I be sacrificed for the sake of bringing about change?"

POLITICAL PRESS

When the Olympics roll around, 20,000-25,000 members of the foreign media will be free to roam around China, according to new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Rogge.

"Beijing has signed a host country contract with the International Olympic Committee and the host city contract provides the occasion for the organisers to give free access to the country for all attending media," Rogge said last week.

Beijing Universiade press secretary Zhang Tingquan said that policy had in essence applied to the student games, too.

"Criticism's a good thing," said Zhang. "It helps us reform."

The state-run media, while largely self-glorifying, put those words to the test at a few points during the Games.

Most outspoken was the official Xinhua news agency, which seemed to go the extra mile to balance its reports and spice up its word choice.

"How could you organise the Olympic Games if you can't deal with this?" Xinhua quoted a Russian journalist as saying when information went missing on the first day of diving events.

"We are holding the Universiade to Olympic standards," Xinhua deputy editor-in-chief Xue Yongxing said.

"We want to talk about traffic, the level of the stadiums, pollution problems and so on," he said.

Not that Xinhua is always so forthright. Lately it has come under fire -- from the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, of all places -- for keeping silent for weeks over a flooded mine disaster in southwestern China.

The newspaper ran a much-acclaimed editorial seen as obliquely criticising its sister propaganda organ. The headline of the commentary: "Breaking news of accidents is not scary. It is only scary when the media are silent."

UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Chinese media driven by commercial pressures have embarked on a new age of sensationalism, but political sensitivities and turf wars have led this year to a spate of shutdowns, suspensions and firings as part of a nationwide media "shake-up".

The crackdown is seen as the government's attempt to consolidate control over revenues, management, and content, ahead of a power handover in its top party leadership late next year.

Because of this many reporters do not see Beijing's success in snagging the 2008 Games as a harbinger of media freedoms.

"Right now, things are at best half-transparent," said Ma. "But it took a lot to get us to the point we are now."

The fireworks victim, while aware talking to a foreign reporter is a political taboo, still sees the domestic media as an option.

If officials tried to buy him off too cheaply "I'd call up some reporter friends", he said. "I'm pretty sure they'd be interested."