China clamps down on murder story reporting

Chinese journalists have been censored from reporting the gory stabbing murder of the American tourist at the Drum Tower and linking it to the Beijing Olympic Games.

In direct contravention of the promises made for press freedom in covering the Olympics, a swag of Chinese journalists had their notebooks and at least one tape recorder confiscated following a press conference held by the US men's volleyball team.

The team had been discussing the impact of the murder on the team. The victim was the father in law of the team's coach, New Zealand-born Hugh McCutcheon and the father of a highly respected former national team member Elisabeth McCutcheon.

Sources said the confiscation caused some disquiet at the venue and was uncertain if the items were returned at a later time. Such removal of notetaking items is a common occurance for Chinese journalists covering protests or other undesirable activities but it is the first time this has happened at an Olympic venue.

Earlier in the week there was a small protest in Tiananmen Square by pro-Tibet US Christians  and reporters covering the protest were manhandled by plainclothes police who tried to take away their microphones and notebooks.

Beijing Olympic spokesman Sun Weide said he did not know the notebooks were confiscated at the volleyball nor of the differing standards being applied to Western journalists, compared to Chinese journalists.

"I am not very clear about the situation you raised. For Chinese jornalists they very much enjoy the rights to cover the Beijing Olympic Games. They very much enjoy the right, the rights are protected by the constitution in China.''

A public relations firm acting for the Beijing organisers said their initial inquiries into the volleyball conference indicated the confiscation "simply did not take place''.

Coverage of the murder in the local press has centred on the death of "an American tourist'' without any mention of the fact that the victim Todd Bachman and his seriously injured wife Barbara were in Beijing to support the US volleyball team.

There has been no reporting of the upheaval in the US Olympic team that the murder has created.

A Sydney Morning Herald internet report on Monday quoting the Australian chef de mission John Coates ordering that Australian athletes wear team gear to enhance their safety when in downtown Beijing was blocked for some hours - until an international wire service sent the story around the world.

Xinhua has reported the "American tourist'' murder in English, but not in its Chinese reports. When the Sydney Morning Herald asked the Beijing Olympic organisers a question at the press conference relating to "the stabbing victim'', the official transcript was released mentioning "the gentleman who was attacked''.

- © Fairfax NZ News