IOC admits deal with China on censorship

International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials have cut a deal with China to allow the blocking of sensitive websites from media during the Beijing Games, press chief Kevan Gosper said yesterday.

Gosper, chairman of the IOC's press commission, had previously said that internet access for the 21,500 media accredited for the Aug. 8-24 Games would be "open".

"I now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related," the Australian told Reuters yesterday.

China is committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics and it loosened controls over foreigners reporting in the country in January 2007.

But attempts to use the internet at the main press centre to access the website of Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honour its human rights pledges, continued to prove fruitless yesterday.

Other websites, most specifically those relating to the banned spiritual group Falun Gong, were also inaccessible to reporters.