Athletes Can Blog at Olympics - with Restrictions 184
Hugh Pickens writes "The IOC has given athletes the right to blog at the Beijing Games this summer, a first for the Olympics. They're allowed, as long as they follow the many rules it set to protect copyright agreements, confidential information and security. The IOC said blogs by athletes 'should take the form of a diary or journal' and should not contain any interviews with other competitors at the games. They also should not write about other athletes. Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events. Athletes must obtain the consent of their competitors if they wish to photograph them. Also, athletes cannot use their blogs for commercial gain."
Olympic Oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess they forgot to add the clause, "except when in China".
Boycot (Score:3, Insightful)
China can't just come in take athletes way to poli (Score:5, Insightful)
How the IOC killed the Olympics (Score:5, Insightful)
The pre-Disney ABC coverage of the Olympics and their Wild World of Sports was the best coverage of the Olympics and no one is ever going to be that good again. Especially with the ironfisted control by the IOC. So fuck you, International Olympics Committee.
Re:Olympic Oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
However I'd like to add that to make ethical progress (as a species), we have to bring in those we disagree with (e.g. the ones who are really wrong). Bring them in and push for incremental change. It's messy and boring, but it's the best way to do it. If we require china to play by all the rules at once, they're unlikely to participate -- no progress made. If we ease them, then we can start a process which (hopefully) will get us somewhere.
Messy, boring, and deeply unsatisfactory, yes. But it often works, and I personally can't think of a better solution that would work as well.
Re:China can't just come in take athletes way to p (Score:2, Insightful)
No but they can sure disqualify them in a heartbeat, then how does that work?
Copyright? Olympics? (Score:3, Insightful)
I certainly won't be paying any attention to the Olympics, now. I'll be paying more attention to my cats in competition to see which one can get the little red dot that flies around every so often.
Re:Enough is Enough (Score:4, Insightful)
If we go by your thinking, why can't athletes use those motorized, piston-powered leg attachments that make you run faster? I feel bad for the guy, but he does have an advantage.
I am a runner myself and running is my life, so I can see where they are coming from.
Disinterest in the Olympics (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:In the good old times... (Score:3, Insightful)
I can just picture those blogs now
When I got up, I had a cool refreshing *Pepsi* while I put on my Ultra-Performance *Nike* shoes and my *Fruit of the Loom* running uniform.
Make it one paragraph to describe every little thing and then have your blog run like 10 pages a day so that you can maximize your advertising revenue.
That sounds like the Olympics of today!
Choice: Don't Go, or Put Up and Shut Up (Score:2, Insightful)
If the athletes actually feel strongly about issues relating to China, then they can choose not to go. Sure, you'll lose out on marketing deals and fame and
Many arguments say the best way to bring China into the modern world is to integrate them despite their flaws, to expose their peoples to alternative viewpoints. If they are correct, then the Olympics will overall be a good thing despite any current issues.
Re:In the good old times... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. Apparently he fathered one or more children by one of his slaves. This can be labelled as rape, since the slave, willing or not, wasn't in a position to say "no".
A man can have the right idea about something, yet be a total son of a bitch about something else.
Re:China can't just come in take athletes way to p (Score:2, Insightful)
The Olympics is about money (Score:4, Insightful)
I shall not be watching - so don't count my eyes when you work out what the TV rights will cost.
Not a terrible policy hut not great either. (Score:3, Insightful)
I see their point. They don't want their athletes using the event to springboard a journalism career. This does involve interfering with their freedom of speech though. What if they want to tell everyone about the games in a more dispassionate way? Why shouldn't they?
They also should not write about other athletes.
Privacy? A bit heavy handed.
Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events.
Seems the IOC has become a corporate enterprise. It used to be all about promoting sports for its own sake. It's a shame that things have gone this way.
Athletes must obtain the consent of their competitors if they wish to photograph them. Also, athletes cannot use their blogs for commercial gain."
Both of these are laudable. The first is about the privacy of the other athletes. The second is about keeping to the amateur spirit of the games.
Re:China shouldn't have been selected (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In the good old times... (Score:1, Insightful)
Not everything a dis-likable person does is wrong.
Re:Olympic Oxymoron (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No Commercial Gain (Score:2, Insightful)
It has no problem signing exclusivity deals for its own commercial gain.
I don't see this ban on athletes' blogs as so much as having to do with pressure from China (I mean, why would China care whether athletes are blogging about the athletic side of the Olympics?), as having to do with pressure from the media corporations that spend oodles of money to have exclusive rights to broadcast Olympic events in their respective markets. The fact that it is in China is a mere coincidence--blogs simply weren't as big a threat two years ago.
- RG> (a.k.a. area man who doesn't have a TV and won't be following the Olympics)
Re:China can't just come in take athletes way to p (Score:3, Insightful)