Held in a delicate health context and in a country not really renowned for its freedom of expression, the Winter Olympics, which started this Saturday in Beijing, do not represent the most favorable working environment for the foreign media. Dutch journalist Sjoerd den Daas learned this the hard way on Friday: while he was broadcasting live regarding the opening ceremony for the NOS television channel, he was brutally interrupted by a Chinese security guard, who forced him out of frame.
The images of this intervention were however able to be broadcast live and the journalist ended his live broadcast a few minutes later, from a different location. But the chain deplored, on Twitter, what “is becoming more and more a daily reality for journalists in China”. “Sjoerd has often told and shown us how difficult it is to be a journalist there, detailed the editor-in-chief of NOS Marcel Gelauff. There is an ingrained tendency to restrict freedoms, and this may be even stronger with Covid-19. »
A “deterioration” of journalism in China
In November, the 150 journalists who are members of the Club of Foreign Correspondents in China were already complaining of a “deterioration” of their working conditions, which resulted in blackmail and sometimes even expulsion. Obstacles which would have multiplied with the approach of the Games, when many questions surrounded the management of the health crisis in the country, the environmental impact of the Olympiad, or even the disappearance of the tennis player Peng Shuai.
According to Archyde.com, the athletes present on site have already been asked not to speak on the issue of human rights. “We think there really won’t be a lot of protection for athletes there,” said Rob Koehler, chief executive of the Global Athlete group, at the seminar organized by Human Rights Watch. “So we advise athletes not to talk. We want them to compete and use their voice when they get home. »
