The call for their release was made by the ‘Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom' conference, which was co-organised by the World Association of Newspapers, the World Press Freedom Committee, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights in China, Asia Presse and the Knight Foundation.
More than 10 000 athletes will be going to Beijing for the Summer Olympics in August. Thirty thousand foreign journalists will be covering it all - which is three journalists for every athlete present.
Chinese authorities promised in their successful Olympic bid that media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China." The authorities have not only failed to honour their pledge, but they have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression, the conference heard. Foreign journalists now reporting from China in the run up to the Olympics are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet.
And conditions are even worse for Chinese journalists themselves: 31 have been jailed since the successful Olympic bid in 2001, and 16 of those remain in prison - half of all Chinese journalists currently in prison.
The two-day conference, which ended Saturday, called on Chinese authorities to respect their pledges to improve human rights and press freedom conditions, and for the International Olympic Committee and others in the international community to press them to do so.
"I'm not sure that when China thought about the Games, they considered all the implications of 30 000 journalists descending on their doorstep. It's going to be a challenge," said Steve Wilson, European Sports Editors for The Associated Press, one of the speakers at the conference, which was organised to help journalists understand what to expect when covering China and the Olympics.
"The journalists won't just be interested in the beach volleyball gold medal winner. They will be as interested in the things outside the field of play as inside ¬ what the average Chinese citizen thinks about the Olympics, how it effects change in China," he said.
Paul Steiger, chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said: "Neither China nor the International Olympic Committee have fulfilled the commitment that media would be free for the Games. China has moved away from fulfilling it. Chinese journalist face tighter than usual restrictions slapped on their reporting."
Steiger said the IOC had rejected CPJ's entreaties to press China to honour its Olympic press freedom commitments. "Lately, that tone has begun to change," he said, noting that IOC President Jacques Rogge said earlier this month that China should honour their "moral engagement" and improve human rights.
Per Toien, chief of information for the Norwegian Olympic Committee, said the change might have been brought about because "the very brand of the IOC itself is at stake."
The Norwegian Committee, which has conducted briefings for its athletes with media and human rights groups, believes "the fact that China wants to show their country in a perfect light is an opportunity for human rights," he said. "This will be a floodlight, not a spotlight, on conditions in China."
Speakers were generally pessimistic about China's desire and ability to improve press freedom conditions, as it promised, before the Games. They also offered some practical advice for those who will be going to Beijing.
For example, local production assistants, translators, and helpers could be in short supply because of the dangers of arrest they face for helping foreign journalists write about sensitive stories. "This could be a major issue during the Olympic Games," said Vincent Brossel, head of the Asia desk for Reporters Without Borders.
Brossel said Chinese authorities will encourage journalists to go through official channels to get helpers, "but if you want to work independently, you shouldn't do this," he said.
