Beijing Games: Sports coverage fine, other things maybe not

TOKYO (AP) — The IOC says the Olympics are only about the sports; no politics allowed. This will be the mantra, as it always is, when the Beijing Winter Games open in six months.

Covering ski races or figure-skating finals should be painless; just stay in the sports bubble and out of trouble. But reporters from other countries who puncture the PR skin to explore other aspects of life in China — as they have in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics — could draw more than criticism.

They could face harassment and threats if portrayals are deemed by the government — and the increasingly nationalist public — to be giving a negative view of China.

“China demands complete adherence to its position on a number of issues,” Oriana Skylar Mastro, who researches China security issues at Stanford University, told The Associated Press.

“It demands this from governments, but also corporations, media, and individuals," she said in an email. "So, do I think China is going to go after anyone, including sports reporters during the Olympics, that deviate from the ‘acceptable’ script? Yes, I absolutely do.”

China’s foreign ministry has repeatedly criticized the “politicization of sports” and has said any Olympic boycott is “doomed to failure.” It has not addressed journalism during the Games specifically.

The peril for journalists was evident last week when foreign reporters covering floods in central China were targeted. The Communist Youth League, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, asked social media followers to locate and report a BBC reporter on assignment. That expanded into broader accusations against foreign reporters for “slandering” China with coverage that could be seen as critical rather than focusing on government rescue efforts.

In a statement, The Foreign Correspondents'...