Mounting a "Safe Olympics" has become the Chinese leadership's order of the day. Among the umpteen kinds of security officials are obsessing over currently: “broadcasting security”.
The aim is to shield viewers from the damning specter of anti-government
protests -- like that which overshadowed the torch-lighting ceremonies in
Greece in March. Despite ominous signals to the contrary, Beijing organizers repeatedly have promised that live broadcasts will be aired without censorship or
delay. The catch is that none should be needed, industry sources involved tell us, should the many other security rings and bureaucratic
obstacles Beijing’s put in place work.
Heavy skepticism lingers over the organizers’ most basic promises. Much of
the controversy has centered on foreign broadcasters’ access outside the arena
of sport, where Beijing exerts far less direct means of control over the coverage. A piece in the
Hollywood Reporter last week offered a good roundup of the nightmares foreign rights’ holders have experienced.
For months, Chinese
security authorities held up shipments of their equipment, visas of many of
their journalists, and permits required for satellite trucks and shooting on-location,
particularly at sensitive sites like Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and
the Great Wall. Last week, Chinese officials finally granted hundreds of
satellite trucks freedom to whirl around town. But it’s likely that some key areas
will still be restricted while broadcasters may still have to get permission 24
hours before filming from a given location, the AP reported.
Sweeping
guarantees from on-high can mean little to local functionaries on the ground,
who fear being held accountable should any trouble or embarrassment arise. In
one telling example earlier this month, local police repeatedly interrupted
live transmission from the Wall by German rights holder ZDF Television, even
though its broadcast was pre-approved.
As
for the Games action itself, since spring rumors have circulated in Beijing that
Chinese authorities were bidding to delay transmission domestically, by as much
as an entire minute. Last week, the pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao
reported that the Chinese propaganda department had ordered provincial and
lower-level stations to slow the signal ten seconds to give broadcasters to
time to cut undesirable content.
But in interviews with the South China Morning
Post, local TV sources said they had not received the reported
orders and suggested they had no reason
to: China Central Television (CCTV) stations are carrying the Games
nationally, not them.
A
day after the Ming Pao report, the Chinese television flagship reaffirmed that it would beam the Games within China without delay - an
unprecedented break with custom. Jiang Heping, controller of CCTV-5, the China
Central Television sports network now know as the Olympic Channel, told a news
conference that state TV stations in China normally delay live broadcasts by 30
seconds – an open secret, though CCTV sources tell us these days the delay usually
much shorter - in order to guarantee programs are aired “smoothly and safely”.
"But at the Beijing Olympics, CCTV will not use the 30-second technical
delay,” Jiang assured. He explained that
CCTV programs will be synchronized with international TV and radio signals
distributed by the International Broadcast Center (IBC). So
audiences will see "what is really taking place as it happens,” he said.
CCTV
itself is not the source of the Olympic signal. That organization is the
Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (BOB),
a Sino-foreign JV between the Beijing organizers (BOCOG) and the IOC-backed Olympic
Broadcasting Services, which was formed in 2004 to provide international TV and
radio signals for the Olympics and Paralympics and other services to rights holders
during the Games. Leadership is shared between BOCOG and International Olympic
Committee reps, though CCTV producers and cameramen dominate the technical
staff. The COO is Ma Guoli, CCTV’s former sports director.
A
well-informed source with BOB, asked about conflicting reports regarding the signal delays, said, “No delay on this end. All our signals have no delay.”
The source was not at liberty to elaborate.
It’s
unlikely Beijing could build a delay into the original feed if they wished, added
another source with NBC, given the binding conditions of their JV cooperation. And if
CCTV were to delay relaying the original feed by any significant margin, this source said, the time
discrepancy with overseas coverage would be quickly exposed. “So in that
sense I think the claim [of no delay] is credible,” said the source.
Chinese
authorities have other obvious means to control live coverage, industry sources note.
One
is to tinker with the camera shots. CCTV directors and producers, who
figure to be calling many of the shots at the stadia, will have a plethora of cameras to
choose from, says the NBC source. They will also have designated shots to fall
back on, the source expects. “For instance, they could have a camera always
pointed on some patriotic scene, like Chinese fans or the Chinese flag.” They
can easily shift positions or tighten angles to block out any commotion, “as
long as the director is quick enough."
(Here there are some serious question marks. CCTV
has been the frequent butt of Chinese Internet scandal of late for its live miscues. The
most recent one was dubbed Mirrorgate.
Twice in a single broadcast of an Olympic news program on CCTV-1,
cameras panned inadvertently on the hostess primping in a vanity mirror.)
Because
of the security blanket on the city and the venues as a whole, there is also “much
less chance troublemakers will be able to get into the sporting venues in the
first place,” says a source with CCTV. Officials and police have been going to near-Stasi-like
extremes to carry out individual surveillance over expats, migrants and
Olympics visitors to Beijing.
At a news conference this week, BOCOG laid out
the “Spectator House Rules”, reminding the world that the Olympic charter bans
"any kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda
... in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." The Beijing rules
explicitly forbid any "display for commercial, religious, political,
military purposes, or those for territory, human rights, environmental
protection or animal protection" without prior official permission,
Reuters reported.
Officials also stressed that flags of non-participating countries were banned,
apparently taking aim at the national colors of Taiwan (which competes at the
Olympics as “Chinese Taipei”, under a special flag). Moreover, they urged people not to bring any banners at all – part of a "Good Habit
for a Good Games" campaign. "We advise
that you do not bring banners of any kind to the Games because we must create a
fair play environment for the athletes from all countries," Reuters quoted
Huang Keying, BOCOG’s deputy director of spectator services, telling reporters.
"The kind of banner with ‘Go China!’ on it would be unfair for athletes
from other countries."
Just weeks ago, the Chinese government had declared
“Go China” the officially sanctioned cheer of the Games. Huang’s remarks
indicate how jittery officials have become about tempering patriotic fervor lest
it lead to frictions with foreign fans. China’s army of 60,000 volunteers are
also being instructed to watch out for taboo banners, and are being equipped
with big stickers to slap over offending T-shirts. One concession, based on the
traditional Chinese predisposition against sun-tanned skin, is that umbrellas are to be
allowed into venues. Alternative means to spring a protest?
Ten days ago, Chinese authorities finally bowed to foreign TV networks' demands to shoot live from Tiananmen Square, but only in the morning from 6 to 10
am and the evening from 9 to 11 pm – when the area figures to be far less crowded than
during peak midday hours. Correspondents would be allowed to do standups only, not live interviews. The timing is particularly bad for European broadcasters. They're still lobbying hard for extended hours at the Square.
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