NBC Officials Uncertain What Censorship They Will Face In China During Olympics

New York Times:

For several years now NBC has meticulously planned all the details for its coverage of the many sports events at the Summer Olympics in China.

But with the Games only 19 days away, many at the network are concerned about how they will be permitted to cover any unscheduled events, like political protests or government crackdowns -- or whether the Chinese government will allow them to cover such things at all.

One of the most common hypothetical questions NBC officials have bandied about involves the opening ceremonies on Aug. 8.

Hundreds of athletes will parade into a stadium in front of world leaders, including President Bush, and a huge global television audience. If an athlete holds a protest sign or waves a Tibetan flag, how will the Chinese hosts react? Will the television networks show the scene? How will the Chinese handle the media for the rest of the Games?

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[camcat]

You would think their would be a pre-requisite that certain standards of freedoms (including a free press) and human rights must be met before a nation can even think of hosting the Olympics. Apparently not. Any corporation paying China to get their share of the Olympic pie has only their own greed to blame for the shocking (not!) threat of media censorship which puts their programming in jeopardy. Holding the Olympics in Beijing sullies the ideals and values the Olympics purport to stand for, at the same time exposing it for the commercial hog trough it has become.

[smokeystover39]

On 8-8-08 NBC should fear the censorship of the remote. I plan to use mine to studiously avoid watching any of the Thugacracy games AND also avoid puchasing ANY of the sponsor's products (got that Coke?).

[loki]

probably no more than they get from the US gov and GE. But certainly not nearly as much as you do here at Hufpo.

[ObamAtomic]

Do not worry business as usual.