Here is one classic. The Chinese really got it right with security measures … but then again, maybe not.
“Why is there a tank outside the press centre?” asks a confused journalist.
The answer from the Chinese officials was not less ridiculous than the question itself.
“I haven’t seen anything. I don’t know who took this decision. It does not come under my responsibility, but it must have been a security measure designed to protect the media. There is nothing to fear. There will be no negative impact on media access to the press centre.”
Right, that will make some 25,000 journalists currently in Beijing, feel a whole lot safer.
In response to this absurdness, one blogger from Reporters Without Borders (RFS) (http://olympicgames.rsfblog.org/) really got it right, as indeed the bootlicking is getting a little repetitive.
“The journalists, especially British and American ones and Agence France Presse’s correspondents, are getting tired of the smooth-as-polished-oak replies from the Chinese representatives and the transparent readiness of IOC spokesperson Giselle Davis to always accommodate her Chinese hosts,” he writes.
The blogger goes on to say: “But this episode was exceptional, and the daily press conference sometimes sounds like a dialogue from a Samuel Beckett play. To the question: ‘Why did the Propaganda Department publish a list of 21 instructions for Chinese journalists covering the games,’ Wang replied: ‘The Chinese media have a right to provide coverage of the games.’”
And here is another pearl from the RFS bloggers.
“Despite the daily attempts by the IOC and Chinese organisers to varnish reality, the coverage of the Olympic Games is beginning to turn into a trial of strength between the foreign press and the Party’s legion of little soldiers, including policemen and police spies.”
If you want to get some laughter – here is a good one from The Time blogger. The Chinese cheerleaders really got him rolling.
