Olympic Propaganda Directive Denied, Despite Publication
by Josh Gerstein
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 at 6:26 AM
Beijing Olympic officials are standing by their flat denial of the existence of a 21-point propaganda directive for Chinese journalists covering the Olympics, notwithstanding the publication of the purported text of the edict last week.
"I can reiterate that there is no 21-point guideline for reporters in China to cover the games. That is according to what I asked the relevant authorities. And I think that's all I can say regarding the issue," the executive vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, Wang Wei, said at a news briefing today, in response to a question from The New York Sun.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post disclosed the alleged directive last Tuesday. Last Wednesday, Mr. Wang denied its existence for the first time. A day later, the Sydney Morning Herald and other Australian newspapers published the entire purported directive.
This reporter asked Mr. Wang today if, by denying the existence of the document, he was hewing to a Chinese Government policy that holds such instructions to be state secrets, or if perhaps the published accounts were based on some sort of forgery. Mr. Wang offered no response to those suggestions.
The issue is a sensitive one in part because, in some instances, Chinese citizens have been prosecuted for providing propaganda directives to foreigners.
Later in the question-and-answer session, a journalist for state-owned Chinese Central Television, Lei Xiaoge, made clear she took umbrage at this reporter's question. "I've never heard of the 21 points," Ms. Lei said heatedly, looking at this reporter. She said it was strange that she had heard about the directive only from foreign journalists. "I really don't know what you're talking about," she said. "My personal view is that, since I began the coverage of the games, my freedom has been unrestricted."
The alleged directive instructs Chinese news outlets to keep quiet about any "emergencies" at the Olympics, to stay "positive" about security measures, and to ignore pro-independence groups from Xinjiang and Tibet. Reporters were also told to make "no fuss about the Darfur issue" and not to report on the recent unblocking of some foreign Web sites. Journalists were also warned not to use racial references, such as "white athlete" or "black athlete."
After today's briefing concluded, this reporter showed Ms. Lei of CCTV an online copy of the published version of the purported directive. In addition, the author of the South China Morning Post story, Peter Simpson, told her that he obtained the directive from an Chinese newspaper editor and that typically such edicts were not shared with reporters.
"I really didn't know anything about it," Ms. Lei said apologetically. Then, after some further pleasantries, she asked to have her photograph taken with this reporter. A colleague did the honors and, for the moment at least, international rapprochement was achieved.
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