The Beijing Winter Olympics have started. Alternating with ZDF, ARD broadcasts more than 120 hours live on TV alone, it offers a very complex and extensive digital package as well as daily up-to-date radio reports.
Reporting beyond the current sport
In the two weeks, however, not everything will revolve around the sport. As always with major sporting events, other topics are also relevant: This is particularly true of the controversial Beijing 2022 games.
Journalistic freedom and freedom of movement in China are even more restricted than they already are by the harsh measures of the zero-Covid policy there. Our on-site colleagues are only allowed to move within the “Olympic bubble” – between hotel, media center and the competition venues.
Censorship, persecution, surveillance
Direct contact with the Chinese population is virtually impossible, officially this is a measure to protect against infection. In everyday life, potential interview partners are put under pressure outside the bubble. China is ranked 177th out of 180 for press freedom by the organization Reporters Without Borders – censorship is the order of the day and people who advocate freedom of expression are persecuted.