Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:36:42 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin webmaster@nysun.com en-us Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/olympic-propaganda-directive-denied-desp.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/olympic-propaganda-directive-denied-desp.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:26:11 EST 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 Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/suns-olympic-urinals-story-flushed-out.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/suns-olympic-urinals-story-flushed-out.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:01:33 EST Other news outlets are beginning to jump on the New York Sun's big scoop two weeks ago about super-vigilant enforcers of Olympic sponsorship rules putting stickers over the brand names on urinals and other bathroom fixtures at the Main Press Center and other Olympic venues. The Sydney Morning Herald picked up the story this morning, complete with enterprising photos of the defaced appliances. And the item about the arguable excesses of policing against ambush marketing really hit the big time Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/running-out-the-clock-on-protest-zones-a.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/running-out-the-clock-on-protest-zones-a.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:21:00 EST With the Olympics now more than half over, it seems Chinese officials are intent on running out or at least running down the clock on long-standing press questions about "protest zones" as well as queries about why a Tibetan-American journalist was denied a visa to cover the Games. At a news briefing on Monday, attempts to get information about the number of applications made, granted, and denied for use use of the protest zones, once again struck out. "Sorry, I still have not got any answer Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/gray-area-questions-to-athletes-shouldnt.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/gray-area-questions-to-athletes-shouldnt.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:02:29 EST Journalists should not be barred from asking Olympic athletes questions which verge into a "gray zone" combining sport and politics, the director of communications for the International Olympic Committee, Giselle Davies, said at a briefing for reporters on Monday. "Clearly in this room and...in others there can be questions put which are in that gray zone. No one's trying here to have any form of censorship," Ms. Davies said in response to a question from The New York Sun. On Wednesday, with Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/phelps-meets-the-press.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/phelps-meets-the-press.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:41:45 EST BEIJING--By my count, more than 50 television cameras were on hand as Michael Phelps came before the press Sunday afternoon to reflect on his record-breaking achievement of eight Gold medals in a single Olympics. "I'm not really sure what to say. It was fun," Phelps told the assmbled horde."I'm thankful everything turned out pretty much perfect.....This has been one of the greatest weeks of my life, if not the greatest." Phelps said he doesn't expect his record, which broke that of Mark Spitz Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/new-yorkers-to-medal-in-mens-fencing-may.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/new-yorkers-to-medal-in-mens-fencing-may.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:08:39 EST BEIJING--The American men's sabre fencing team, two thirds of which hails from New York, scored a come-from-behind win over Russia Sunday afternoon to proceed to the Gold medal match against France and to guarantee themselves at least a Silver medal here. In a semi-final match, Keeth Smart of Brooklyn, Tim Morehouse of the Bronx, and Jason Rogers of Los Angeles, came out strong against Russia in the first three bouts, racking up a lead of 15-9. However, in the next four bouts Russia overcame Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/phelps-does-it.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/phelps-does-it.html Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:31:50 EST BEIJING--Super-swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth Gold medal here moments ago, surpassing Mark Spitz's record from the 1972 Olympics. The U.S. men's 4x100 relay team came in at 3:29.34, just seven-tenths of a second ahead of Australia, which took the Silver. Japan won the Bronze. The other teams did not appear shy about trying to wrest the would-be record Gold from Phelps. While the American lead-off backstroke swimmer, Aaron Peirsol, touched the wall two-tenths of a second ahead of the Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/empire-state-women-win-fencing-silver.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/empire-state-women-win-fencing-silver.html Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:31:07 EST Three Empire State natives brought home the Silver for America today in women's foil fencing by upsetting teams from Hungary and Poland, but the U.S. squad missed out on the gold by falling to Russia tonight in Beijing. The medals for Emily Cross, 21, of Manhattan, Erinn Smart, 28, of Brooklyn, and Hanna Thompson, 24, of Rochester, are the first ever won by American women in Olympic foil fencing and the first for any American in an Olympic foil event since 1960. "Everything just clicked today," JOSH GERSTEIN http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/the-last-lap.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/the-last-lap.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 12:20:38 EST The last lap for the Olympic Torch was a memorable one. A Gold medalist in gymnastics, Li Ning, made the trip--"running" in the air, suspended about 150 feet above the stadium floor. At the end, Mr. Li put the torch to a track extending from the flame cauldron at the lip of the stadium's roof. After a moment's hesitation, the flame shot up the track and the Olympic Flame was lit. With that, and some thunderous fireworks, the big opening is over. Actually, as the athletes file out, there's a JOSH GERSTEIN http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/heres-to-president-hu.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/heres-to-president-hu.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 11:57:02 EST Three cheers for President Hu. He just delivered a one-line speech declaring the games of the 29the Olympiad (of the modern era, don't forget to add that) open. He deserves all our gratitude for keeping it short. The athletes who are now milling in the oval didn't seem riveted by the preceding speech by the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacuques Rogge. They were all moving around and taking pictures of each other as he spoke about the evils of doping and the need to respect JOSH GERSTEIN http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/flapping-in-the-breeze.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/flapping-in-the-breeze.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 11:55:52 EST Perhaps I spoke too soon when I said there was no breeze here in the stadium. I'm looking now at the Chinese flag flapping vigorously in the "wind." However, looking closely, the "wind" is coming from some openings near the top of the flagpole. I also hear a sound kind of like a hair dryer JOSH GERSTEIN http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/china-is-here.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/china-is-here.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 11:26:00 EST China team just entered the stadium, unsurprisingly with the loudest roar yet from the crowd. My main take-away is that Yao Ming looks tall even at the other end of a 60,000-person stadium. Walking alongside Mr. Yao, the Chinese have a 9 year old boy from Sichuan. An announcer in the stadium said the youngster saved the lives of two of his classmates in the May earthquake. Also: the Chinese team, like the American one, is huge. We see something like a twirled Chinese flag now near the roof Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/the-americans-arrive.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/the-americans-arrive.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 10:40:38 EST Team USA just entered the stadium to a big roar, though the first announcement, in French, didn't elicit any noticeable reaction. President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were shown on the Jumbotrons waving. While the Bushes would probably elicit some booing almost anywhere in America these days, I heard none here. The Chinese are delighted Mr. Bush came and didn't join the boycott Polish and Czech and (arguably) German leaders undertook over Tibet and other issues. One old China hand told me Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/rain-or-a-theatrical-waterfall-perhaps.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/rain-or-a-theatrical-waterfall-perhaps.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 10:34:03 EST At the boom TV camera position right in front of me, they are feverishly putting a rain slicker on the whole apparatus. This means one of two things: it's about to rain, or there's some sequence in the finale that involves water Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/pirate-radio-group-claims-first-independ.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/pirate-radio-group-claims-first-independ.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 10:25:41 EST Reporters Sans Frontiers also known as Reporters Without Borders is claiming that this morning the press freedom group carried out the first independent radio broadcast in China since the Communists took power in 1949. The group said its 20-minute broadcast on 104.4 FM this morning called on the Chinese Government to respect press freedom and free speech rights. "The Chinese authorities refused to issue visas to ten of our members but this has not stopped us from making ourselves heard in Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/spanish-hams.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/spanish-hams.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 10:09:11 EST The athlete's procession is well under way now. Iraq, whose team was almost excluded from the Olympics in a dispute with the International Olympic Committee, just entered and got a loud roar from the crowd. Some rare spontaneity introduced by the Spanish team, whose members repeatedly broke out of the procession line to rush TV cameras and to respond to Spaniards in the stands. The TV feed in the stadium studiously avoided the Spanish antics. Eventually, young men with headsets and Chinese Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/more-tibet-activists-said-detained.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/more-tibet-activists-said-detained.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 10:04:00 EST Three Americans protesting Chinese repression in Tibet were arrested about an hour before the opening ceremony for staging an exceedingly brief demonstration near the entrance to the stadium, a Tibet activist group, Students for a Free Tibet, is reporting. The three displayed Tibetan national flags and were tackled by Chinese security forces within 40 seconds, the group said. A few days ago two Britons and two Americans from the same group were arrested for dropping free-Tibet banners from Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/the-performance-draws-to-an-end.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/the-performance-draws-to-an-end.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:32:25 EST We're coming to the end of the performance part of the program. There have been a bunch more cool visuals, though I hesitate to call anything cool when I'm drenched in this much sweat. We've seen more flying, including men in silver space suits and a little girl chasing a flying kite. A huge globe just emerged in the center of the stadiuim with performers on it who seem to defy gravity, or at least local gravity here, by walking upside down on the globe's bottom and perpendicular to its sides Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/zhang-yimous-magic.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/zhang-yimous-magic.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 08:32:27 EST A pretty spectacular kickoff to tonight's ceremony. First, 2008 drummers banging on huge drums equipped with strobe lights. And a countdown in lights and fireworks. Then more than 29 "giants' footprints" or oval fireworks set off in sequence from the center of Beijing "striding" towards the stadium. When they arrived, "fairies" suspended hundreds of feet in the air floated down from the ceiling and Olympic Rings which lit up on the stadium floor appeared to peel up and rise into the air. They Josh Gerstein http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/skycampalooza-photogs-and-the-pla.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/beijing-bulletin/2008/08/skycampalooza-photogs-and-the-pla.html Fri, 8 Aug 2008 08:05:23 EST We just had the March of the Photographers. About two dozen wire and agency still photographers, dressed, respectfully, almost entirely in black, just crossed the floor of the stadium to take their positions. And now the People's Liberation Army ceremonial guard unit has marched in. About 30 strong, they're in a formation near the flag poles