China
Winter Olympics on social media + Reporters without borders + Nvidia
- Care-free Olympics on TikTok and Instagram
- Reporters Without Borders warn against Beijing's media strategy
- Nvidia's indispensable role in China's EV market
- Moscow and Beijing: 'shared view'
- Gas from Asia to Europe?
- EU takes position on standardization
- China joins the chase for Covid treatment
- Profile: Freestyle ace Eileen Gu now competes for China
- Dessert: Olympic torch on its way in Beijing
Dear reader,
The Olympics and media always went hand in hand. This was already the case at the very first Olympics of the modern era in 1906 when correspondents telegraphed the results and their impressions to the world. Even back then, it made little sense to hold a global sporting event only for local spectators. And the media always reported a lot about the host country: About the party atmosphere in Athens and the nightly torchlight processions, but also about the organizational chaos. Back in 1924, there were already 1,000 journalists on-site in Paris.
Since then, media coverage of the host country has become a key motivation for hosting the expensive Games. In 2008, this strategy worked out well for China: The image of the emerging superpower ended up with a big boost. This year, on the other hand, it looks like China's public image might take a big hit instead – at least in parts of the world like Europe and the USA, where human rights issues play a role.
Therefore, the Chinese government is currently trying everything in its power to control media coverage. Since it has little influence over classic media of democratic countries, it is instead evading them as much as possible. For example, the state propaganda factory produces videos that show a serene Xinjiang. And that is not all, even US media personalities are being paid to cheer for the 2022 Olympics, as Fabian Peltsch reports today. That's perfectly legal, of course. But it shows how the structures of an open society can be hijacked from the outside.
