C
ClassWarz
Guest
China slaughters and imprisons its own people, kills and imprisons Christian
and Falun Gong religionists simply for holding misguided and stupid beliefs,
it occupies once-peaceful freedom-loving Tibet, it props up the genocide in
Darfur, it poisons American kids with lead-contaminated toys, it exploits
its workers with low pay, bad conditions, and long hours.....so, let's
boycott the '08 Olympics! And, don't buy their crappy poisonous products
(for health reasons alone if you are not intelligent enough to get the
political arguments). Don't invest in or do business with any company that
does business there, too!
ClassWarz
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23747606/
_________________________
China may ban live broadcasts during Games
Restriction could wreck NBC plans to use Tiananmen Square as backdrop
The Associated Press
updated 6:13 p.m. CT, Fri., March. 21, 2008
BEIJING - China might bar live television broadcasts from Tiananmen Square
during the Beijing Olympics, apparently unnerved by the recent outburst of
unrest among Tibetans and fearful of protests in the heart of the Chinese
capital.
A ban on live broadcasts would disrupt the plans of NBC and other major
international networks, who have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to
broadcast the Aug. 8-24 games and are counting on eye-pleasing live shots
from the iconic square.
The rethinking of Beijing's earlier promise to broadcasters comes as the
government has poured troops into Tibetan areas wracked by anti-government
protests this month and stepped up security in cities, airports and
entertainment venues far from the unrest.
In another sign of the government's unease, 400 American Boy Scouts who had
been promised they could onto the field following a March 15 exhibition game
between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres were prevented from
doing so by police.
"It was never specifically mentioned to me it was because of Tibet that
there were extra controls, but there were all these changes at the last
minute," said a person involved in the Major League Baseball event who asked
for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The communist government's resorting to heavy-handed measures runs the risk
of undermining Beijing's pledge to the International Olympic Committee that
the games would promote greater openness in what a generation ago was still
an isolated China. If still in place by the games, they could alienate the
half-million foreigners expected at the games.
Like the Olympics, live broadcasts from Tiananmen Square were meant to
showcase a friendly, confident China - one that had put behind it the deadly
1989 military assault on democracy demonstrators in the vast plaza that
remains a defining image for many foreigners.
"Tiananmen is the face of China, the face of Beijing so many broadcasters
would like to do live or recorded coverage of the square," said Yosuke
Fujiwara, the head of broadcast relations for the Beijing Olympic
Broadcasting Co., or BOB, a joint-venture between Beijing Olympic organizers
and an IOC subsidiary. BOB coordinates and provides technical services for
the TV networks with rights to broadcast the Olympics, such as NBC.
Earlier this week, however, officials with the Beijing Olympics Organizing
Committee, or BOCOG, told executives at BOB that the live shots were
canceled, according to three people familiar with the matter who requested
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
"We learned that standup positions would be canceled," one of these people
said. "No explanation was given for the change."
Sun Weijia, the BOCOG official in charge of dealing with BOB, declined
comment, referring the matter to press officers, three of whom also declined
to comment. IOC offices were closed Friday for the Easter holiday; two
spokeswomen did not immediately return e-mails and phone calls seeking
comment.
The decision by BOCOG may not be final. The change was relayed verbally, one
person said. All three hoped that IOC President Jacques Rogge and other
leading IOC officials, expected in Beijing next month for regularly
scheduled meetings, may be able to prevail on BOCOG to change its mind.
Coverage of the marathon, which starts in Tiananmen, is also likely to be
unaffected, the people said. An early indicator will be a marathon
test-event scheduled for April.
If the decision stands, it would be a blow to the TV networks whose money to
buy the right to broadcast the games accounts for more than half the IOC's
revenues. The biggest spender is NBC. It paid $2.3 billion for the rights
for three Olympics from 2004 to 2008 - Athens, Turin and Beijing.
Officials at NBC refused to comment.
The unrest - which broke out March 10 in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and
has since spread across western China - and the government's harsh response
underscores the communist leaders' unease as the Olympics approach.
With paramilitary police patrolling Beijing at night and journalists being
expelled from Tibetan areas, security measures are on par with those not
seen since the government mobilized police to crush the Falun Gong spiritual
movement in 1999-2000.
Activist groups have said for months that they planned to use the Olympics
to promote their causes. But the challenge faced by China's leadership seems
to grow more imminent.
Aside from Tibet protests, the government said it foiled a plot this month
by Muslim separatists in western China to blow up a China Southern Boeing
757. Foreign activists angry about China's support for Sudan, which is party
to a civil war in Darfur, said this week they would demonstrate in Beijing
during the games.
After the Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet!" at the finale of a
Shanghai concert this month, officials ordered tighter scrutiny of all
performances.
The Boy Scouts seemed to get caught in a response to both the sometimes
violent Tibet protests and Bjork; police canceled all on-field entertainment
for the exhibition baseball games, including the singing of the Chinese and
U.S. national anthems.
BOCOG officials began signaling their discomfort with live broadcasts in
Tiananmen Square to the IOC a year ago but discussions went back and forth,
according to the people involved. The square - overlooked by a large
portrait of communist founder Mao Zedong - has been a magnet for protests
for decades.
and Falun Gong religionists simply for holding misguided and stupid beliefs,
it occupies once-peaceful freedom-loving Tibet, it props up the genocide in
Darfur, it poisons American kids with lead-contaminated toys, it exploits
its workers with low pay, bad conditions, and long hours.....so, let's
boycott the '08 Olympics! And, don't buy their crappy poisonous products
(for health reasons alone if you are not intelligent enough to get the
political arguments). Don't invest in or do business with any company that
does business there, too!
ClassWarz
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23747606/
_________________________
China may ban live broadcasts during Games
Restriction could wreck NBC plans to use Tiananmen Square as backdrop
The Associated Press
updated 6:13 p.m. CT, Fri., March. 21, 2008
BEIJING - China might bar live television broadcasts from Tiananmen Square
during the Beijing Olympics, apparently unnerved by the recent outburst of
unrest among Tibetans and fearful of protests in the heart of the Chinese
capital.
A ban on live broadcasts would disrupt the plans of NBC and other major
international networks, who have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to
broadcast the Aug. 8-24 games and are counting on eye-pleasing live shots
from the iconic square.
The rethinking of Beijing's earlier promise to broadcasters comes as the
government has poured troops into Tibetan areas wracked by anti-government
protests this month and stepped up security in cities, airports and
entertainment venues far from the unrest.
In another sign of the government's unease, 400 American Boy Scouts who had
been promised they could onto the field following a March 15 exhibition game
between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres were prevented from
doing so by police.
"It was never specifically mentioned to me it was because of Tibet that
there were extra controls, but there were all these changes at the last
minute," said a person involved in the Major League Baseball event who asked
for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The communist government's resorting to heavy-handed measures runs the risk
of undermining Beijing's pledge to the International Olympic Committee that
the games would promote greater openness in what a generation ago was still
an isolated China. If still in place by the games, they could alienate the
half-million foreigners expected at the games.
Like the Olympics, live broadcasts from Tiananmen Square were meant to
showcase a friendly, confident China - one that had put behind it the deadly
1989 military assault on democracy demonstrators in the vast plaza that
remains a defining image for many foreigners.
"Tiananmen is the face of China, the face of Beijing so many broadcasters
would like to do live or recorded coverage of the square," said Yosuke
Fujiwara, the head of broadcast relations for the Beijing Olympic
Broadcasting Co., or BOB, a joint-venture between Beijing Olympic organizers
and an IOC subsidiary. BOB coordinates and provides technical services for
the TV networks with rights to broadcast the Olympics, such as NBC.
Earlier this week, however, officials with the Beijing Olympics Organizing
Committee, or BOCOG, told executives at BOB that the live shots were
canceled, according to three people familiar with the matter who requested
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
"We learned that standup positions would be canceled," one of these people
said. "No explanation was given for the change."
Sun Weijia, the BOCOG official in charge of dealing with BOB, declined
comment, referring the matter to press officers, three of whom also declined
to comment. IOC offices were closed Friday for the Easter holiday; two
spokeswomen did not immediately return e-mails and phone calls seeking
comment.
The decision by BOCOG may not be final. The change was relayed verbally, one
person said. All three hoped that IOC President Jacques Rogge and other
leading IOC officials, expected in Beijing next month for regularly
scheduled meetings, may be able to prevail on BOCOG to change its mind.
Coverage of the marathon, which starts in Tiananmen, is also likely to be
unaffected, the people said. An early indicator will be a marathon
test-event scheduled for April.
If the decision stands, it would be a blow to the TV networks whose money to
buy the right to broadcast the games accounts for more than half the IOC's
revenues. The biggest spender is NBC. It paid $2.3 billion for the rights
for three Olympics from 2004 to 2008 - Athens, Turin and Beijing.
Officials at NBC refused to comment.
The unrest - which broke out March 10 in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and
has since spread across western China - and the government's harsh response
underscores the communist leaders' unease as the Olympics approach.
With paramilitary police patrolling Beijing at night and journalists being
expelled from Tibetan areas, security measures are on par with those not
seen since the government mobilized police to crush the Falun Gong spiritual
movement in 1999-2000.
Activist groups have said for months that they planned to use the Olympics
to promote their causes. But the challenge faced by China's leadership seems
to grow more imminent.
Aside from Tibet protests, the government said it foiled a plot this month
by Muslim separatists in western China to blow up a China Southern Boeing
757. Foreign activists angry about China's support for Sudan, which is party
to a civil war in Darfur, said this week they would demonstrate in Beijing
during the games.
After the Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet!" at the finale of a
Shanghai concert this month, officials ordered tighter scrutiny of all
performances.
The Boy Scouts seemed to get caught in a response to both the sometimes
violent Tibet protests and Bjork; police canceled all on-field entertainment
for the exhibition baseball games, including the singing of the Chinese and
U.S. national anthems.
BOCOG officials began signaling their discomfort with live broadcasts in
Tiananmen Square to the IOC a year ago but discussions went back and forth,
according to the people involved. The square - overlooked by a large
portrait of communist founder Mao Zedong - has been a magnet for protests
for decades.
