U.S. Seeks Freedoms for China that its Own Media Lack

What a paradox! The United States, which one day before the opening of the Olympic Games had asked China to improve its record on freedom of expression, could not enjoy the superb opening ceremony because of the monopoly on information that its big media consortia hold.

In delaying the broadcast of the opening ceremony by 12 hours, television network NBC – which paid 900 million dollars for the rights – not only ridiculed President George W. Bush, who was at the ceremony, but turned the United States into the only country in the world that did not witness the opening.

In the cradle of liberties and technology, Americans became aware of the impressive ceremony when the event was already cold and was at the point of becoming history – and all because of monopolies that are in opposition to the very rights that Washington is pressuring other countries to adopt.

The attack of NBC on the right to information did not go unnoticed. The victims, who said they could not understand how a nation could be deprived of a live transmission of the world’s main sporting event, raised their voices in protest. And with good reason.

With the decision of the powerful channel, no other American medium could even broadcast videos on their Internet sites, in anticipation of the broadcast of the fantastic ceremony in Peking 12 hours later, scheduled for prime time. Nor was it surprising that the commentators of NBC’s popular morning programs hardly mentioned the ceremony.

If it doesn’t want a boycott, NBC will have to provide a serious explanation because there are many coincidences. First the Bush government had warned that it was time for China to allow more freedom to its people and later the incidents regarding the broadcast of the Olympic games occurred.

But the ones who were harmed, not only in front of the American public but also the world, were Bush and NBC. After an investment of more than US$40 billion to make the Games an event, the last thing the Chinese wanted was to be tarnished for political or non-athletic actions.