August 6, 2008 4:59 AM
A.M./P.M.: China Takes the Heat
It's smoggy outside again, and with the heat index climbing into the upper 90s, leaving the friendly air conditioned confines of my room isn't too enticing. But I've been getting this weird sense of déjà vu lately. Haven't we gone through all of this before?Yes, it was only four years ago that the world converged on Athens, the smoggiest city in western Europe. After the Games, one Team USA manager said that at least 20 percent of his athletes had a negative reaction to Athens' smog. Add in the average summertime temperature in Athens -- mid-90s, with humidity -- and Beijing might just be the Greece of the East.
So the biggest question I've been getting from both ex-pats and Chinese nationals here is, if Olympians have been through this before -- in Athens and Los Angeles and Mexico City -- then why is China taking so much flak from the international media? There are two main things I think you should keep in mind:
1. Western journalists are coming to China with pre-determined biases about this country. Maybe the communism -- and child labor laws, and Tibet, and censorship, and all the rest that goes with this type of government -- has something to do with it. Feel free to include me among those who came to China hoping that a trip here would change my mind about all the things I'd previously read and heard.
2. There are thousands upon thousands of journalists here in Beijing. The opportunity for original storytelling -- at least among the non-Mandarin speakers -- is increasingly limited.
So when you've got a bottleneck of potentially-biased journalists all trying to write the big story, eventually, one or two main talking points tend to slip out. The same thing's happening with the Presidential election right now, or with any other major media circus. Smog and censorship just happen to be the talking points of the week here in Beijing.
I'll also say this: if you're upset about the anti-China biases, then please check out one of the pro-China media outlets. They're not much better.
Looking for true balance during these Olympics? Maybe the gymnastics events are more your type.
It's 7 p.m. in Beijing, and 5 a.m. in Denver. Here are the stories that are making Olympic headlines on this Wednesday evening/morning:
>China issues a visa to former U.S. gold medalist Joey Cheek and then revokes it after realizing that Cheek wanted to come to China to protest the government's involvement in Darfur.
>The good folks at Danwei are continuing to impress. They've got details about Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao shooting 1 for 5 while completely unguarded at the Olympic basketball stadium (see photo at left), and also how in some cities, the Chinese are distributing anti-terrorism whistles. That should be effective.>The Chinese are creating a new law just about every day for journalists attempting to report in this city. This one requires advance paperwork to report from Tiananamen Square. They'll be asking for TPS reports soon enough.
>ESPN blogger goes running through the Olympic Green screaming out "TV! Media! Press!" only to find out that no one speaks English. Great photo of a Free You-Know-What-Country protestor, though.
>Aug. 4: BOCOG predicts "good" quality. Aug. 5: BOCOG predicts "fairly good" air quality. Tomorrow? BOCOG decides to rate air quality on a scale of "one to pretty okay."
>Even the insurance companies think Michael Phelps' quest for at least seven gold medals is inevitable.
>On that note: the Bird's Nest has been insured for more than $503 million.
>Ex-pat bloggers agree: the absurdity of the entire scene in Beijing is pretty incredible right now.
>The Underwater Olympics, and no, it has nothing to do with Michael Phelps.
[Cartoon at top right courtesy cartoonstock.com]
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1:59 AM
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9:19 PM
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