Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
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<strong>Beijing</strong> <strong>Olympics</strong> <strong>2008</strong>: <strong>Winning</strong> <strong>Press</strong> <strong>Freedom</strong><br />
18<br />
The National Broadcasting Company did have some regular news staff in Moscow but the<br />
US rules meant they could only broadcast general news, not sports events.<br />
During the Games, there were problems with the security people. In the television center,<br />
they set the metal detectors to such a high degree of sensitivity that an alarm would go<br />
off even if somebody had a single metal tooth. The first three days, this resulted in<br />
endless queues trying to enter the center.<br />
Just an hour before the opening ceremony, the head of the Eurovision team called me<br />
saying that security would admit only one person per media outlet, even if the plans called<br />
for three. Things improved only after I told the Minister of the Interior that Eurovision<br />
would not cover the opening ceremony and that he would have to explain why to the<br />
world audience.<br />
There was no censorship. It was technically impossible anyway because foreign<br />
broadcasters could produce programs themselves and go directly on the air from their<br />
studios in Moscow, and also from Estonia, where the sailing events took place.<br />
The boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow had a negative impact on the Olympic<br />
Games in Los Angeles, which the Soviets decided to boycott. I participated in the meeting<br />
of the Soviet Olympic Committee when this was decided. Vitaly Smirnov, a member of the<br />
International Olympic Committee, and I voted against the boycott, but the Soviet press<br />
reported that the decision was unanimous.<br />
The Central Committee of the Communist Party explained that this was not revenge for<br />
the boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games but because emigrant groups in Los Angeles<br />
threatened terrorist attacks against Soviet sportsmen. There were indeed letters with such<br />
threats, but I'm not sure that they were not “arranged” for by Moscow. As a member of<br />
the International Olympic Committee television committee, I had visited LA and had met<br />
with the local security services. They were well prepared to protect the Soviet team.<br />
Of course, there were fools on both sides. One Los Angeles newspaper published an<br />
article saying that most Soviet sportsmen were KGB agents. Some real KGB officers used<br />
that assertion as an added argument to justify the boycott of the <strong>Olympics</strong>.<br />
I suggested that it would be very easy to solve the problem: The young gymnasts upon<br />
landing at Los Angeles airport could leave the aircraft with the slogan on their Olympic<br />
uniforms - “I am a KGB agent.” My humor was not appreciated.<br />
Since the protests have erupted in Tibet on 10 March, Chinese authorities have attempted<br />
to prevent information about the development from reaching both domestic and<br />
international audiences. Journalists have either been expelled from or denied access to<br />
regions where protests happened. As a result, there have been statements by some public<br />
figures calling for a boycott of the <strong>Beijing</strong> Games.