Although the Chinese government has promised journalists the unrestricted right of expression, avoid any preconceptions, warns the Guardian's Phil Harding. This past month, news about the earthquake in China and angry protesters have tended to overshadow the issue of press coverage during the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympics.

In an article Monday Harding speculates whether the government can keep its word.

"In a country that keeps such a tight grip on its own media and which severely restricts access to its markets by foreign media companies...it is a guarantee that has been hotly disputed," Harding writes.

Harding quotes several journalists who echo this skepticism, including BBC Sport's Head of Major Events, Dave Gordon, whose network plans to film certain events with its own unilateral cameras in preparation for any media suppression.

"We don't want any editorial decisions made for us," Gordon says.

Harding is most curious about how the media will cover events off the field, and how the Chinese government will respond to any such scrutiny.

"If the Olympics are portrayed as a well-organized success, the media will be accused of falling for a Chinese propaganda exercise. On the other hand, if there are protests and they are properly covered, there will be accusations from the Chinese that the actions of an unrepresentative minority have been magnified out of proportion."

During the earthquake, many journalists in China reportedly enjoyed increased press freedom. It remains to be seen whether the Chinese government will keep its word for the Olympics.

In April, the World Association of Newspapers organized a conference entitled "Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom," which featured Gao Yu, a Chinese journalist jailed twice for her reporting. Unfortunately, she had reported that, in the run-up to the Olympics, the conditions for journalists were "considerably more catastrophic" than they were 15 years ago.

Source: The Guardian