I’ve been having a lot of conversations with people lately about how the world is covering the Olympics. Along with the palpable excitement and pride on the part of Chinese people, and intrigue and appreciation on the part of folks from other parts of the world, there is a lot of frustration out there.
Is the world looking too closely at politics and human rights and freedom of speech in China? It’s nothing new that the Olympics are politicized by the media (and many other parties) — is there something different and worse about what is happening for China? Or maybe, the media is not paying enough attention to the China’s politics.
Perhaps there’s something more important here — what happens after the Olympics? Will the world still be watching China? Or will they suffer China-burnout and start running cursory stories about mining accidents or human rights and focus solely on financial news?
Here are a few links that might be of interest on these topics:
On Western bias:
China Daily’s reportage on Ban Ki-Moon’s comments
On the Beijing organizing committee and the IOC’s conflicts with the press and each other:
The New York Times’ detailed account of a daily press briefing
On China’s future post-Olympics:
Daniel Lynch in The Far Eastern Economic Review
And here’s a totally different way of looking at the Games (via history) by my former Cal classmate Anka Lee: San Francisco’s local NBC station is publishing his blog (also here). He’s also making short videos.
Would love more links — what have you been reading about China? Do you find the focus fair?