Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions

Awarding Olympics to 'dictatorial regime' was 'drastic mistake'
By Sam Biddle,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 5, 2008 4:40 PM CDT
Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions
Police officers push back a journalist away from an area where a large crowd was waiting to buy tickets for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Friday, July 25, 2008, in Beijing, China.   (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

As the Beijing Games draw near, journalists are worrying about the Chinese government's handling of a swarm of international reporters in an otherwise heavily censored society. Der Spiegel compiles commentaries from varying German sources, all of which agree that the decision to award China the 2008 Olympics was misguided at best.

“The Olympics cannot be held in a country ruled by a dictatorship without having to play by its rules,” one paper argues. “They are only doing what authoritarian and dictatorial regimes always do,” comments another paper. “No one can really be unclear about the true character of the Chinese system of rule." (More China stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X