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 />
19<br />
But if you really want human rights and press freedom in a given country where you think<br />
there are problems, don't start calling for rights and freedoms just before <strong>Olympics</strong>, but<br />
fight for them daily, as many journalists in China and elsewhere have done for years.<br />
Some of them, like Burmese journalist U Win Tin, have been in jail for many years, losing<br />
their health in the process, while politicians in the outside world have remained silent.<br />
Very often today, human rights and press freedom is much less important to politicians<br />
than selling Boeings, Airbuses or MIGs.<br />
In my opinion every <strong>Olympics</strong> is a chance to reinforce press freedom and human rights in<br />
the country where the Games take place. Calls for boycotts of the Olympic Games are<br />
cheap ways to seek publicity at the cost of the sportsmen.<br />
Media professionals of the host country are caught in a bind - under pressure from their<br />
own government and politicians on one side, and from the world press, their colleagues,<br />
on the other. Clever cooperation between host media and visiting media seems to me to<br />
be the most productive way around the issue.<br />
The host country media must have enough courage to explain to their politicians that the<br />
only way to counteract any negative publicity resulting from press freedom is to give<br />
media more freedom. An atmosphere of real freedom is of itself good publicity.