p2pnet news | freedom:- Australian athletes will be allowed to blog during the Beijing Olympics —

— just as long as they don’t benefit financially and don’t criticise coaches or other athletes, among other things.

China is infamous as one of the world’s most repressive countries: a nation well known for jailing cyber dissidents, including people who air their views online via blogs.

Now, “The IOC Press Commission, chaired by Australian Kevan Gosper, is set to recommend that the IOC’s powerful executive board drop its opposition to athletes writing blogs during the Games when it meets in November,” says The Australian, going on:

“Competing athletes are specifically prevented from working as journalists during the Games and have so far been strictly denied rights to continue writing internet columns during the event. But Olympic sources said yesterday that the IOC was set to make the shift as it realised it had to recognise the dramatic expansion of the internet in the daily lives of athletes. The IOC is also keen to expand the appeal of the Olympics to the youth market.”

What caused the sudden shift in attitude?

“The rate of technological change and the interaction between traditional media and new media are changing at such a rate that the sooner we move on this the better,” the story has Gosper saying.

In the past, the IOC had been “reluctant” to allow blogs from competing athletes for fear of offending offend TV and other media rights holders and Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred said the AOC had been worried that athletes’ blogs could become vehicles for ambush marketing by companies that weren’t official sponsors.

“But he said the AOC now felt the rules, which would be laid down by the IOC, should prevent this outcome,” continues The Australian.

However, athletes still won’t be allowed to include videos they may take inside official Games venues on their blogs, “as this could undermine the TV coverage of the Games by official broadcaster the Seven Network,” says Tancred in the story, adding:

“Mr Gosper, who is also deputy chairman of the IOC’s co-ordination commission for the 2008 Games, acknowledged that allowing athletes to blog for the first time at an Olympics could present some sensitive issues, given the attitude to the internet and international media by Chinese authorities.

“He said the IOC had negotiated with Chinese authorities about giving foreign journalists the right to write freely during the Games, easing some restrictions on media. He said any proposed changes would also have to be discussed with Chinese Olympic organiser, BOCOG and other authorities.”

Slashdot it!

Also See:

The Australian – Olympians poised to win back blogs, July 26, 2007

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 9:15 am and is filed under Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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