A PDF version of the following letter can be found here.
A copy of the IOC’s initial letter to the OPC can be found here.
International Olympic Committee
Christian Klaue, Director, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Mark Adams, Director, Spokesperson’s Services
Dear Mssrs. Klaue and Adams,
Thank you for your letter of 14 June. We agree that the Olympics stand for peace, solidarity and resilience. And we take your point that you cannot change the laws or political system of a sovereign country.
But you did not fully respond to the questions we and our co-signers asked about media coverage of the Winter Games in Beijing. To begin getting answers out to the thousands of journalists the signatories collectively represent, we would like to establish an ongoing dialogue with you as we approach February 2022.
The details are crucially important. Some questions that remain include:
- Will correspondents assigned to cover the Games be allowed to freely move around China to get a sense of what the Games mean to Chinese people and the world?
- Will news organizations be allowed to hire translators and local reporting partners without going through a government agency? Will the electronic devices of correspondents be subject to screening and surveillance?
There are many more such questions, including about the issuance of visas and over what length of time. May we schedule a face-to-face video call with you to discuss these issues? In the spirit of openness, we are informing our partner organizations about our conversations with you. In so doing, we could become a bridge between the IOC and the worldwide journalistic community.
We will soon follow up by telephone with you to schedule a mutually convenient date and time.
Sincerely,
Patricia Kranz, Executive Director
William J. Holstein, Co-chair, China Working Group