BOCOG Media Operations Department Director Sun Weijia, shown here, said BOCOG will provide virtual intranet transmission services for the media covering the Beijing Olympic Games.

In addition, he said, wireless wide-band technology will also be put to use during the Olympic Games. Journalists will thus be able to send their reports to their headquarters directly from the stands without being wired up to a television. Only a journalist will wholly realize what a blessing this is.

The service will be linked with the Olympic INFO system to support download so that facts can be cross-checked before the story is filed.

In one sense BOCOG will provide the same service platform for the media as the previous Olympic Games. However, the media will be accessing services of much, much higher levels as a result of rapid development of net communication technology.

BOCOG fully studied the practice of the previous Olympic Games, and sent its staff to experience media operations during the Athens and Turin Olympic Games. And then took it all several steps further.

BOCOG has hired a considerable number of foreign specialists in media operations. About 5% of the 500 people involved in media operations are foreigners, and some 10% of the 2,000 volunteers are foreigners.

The Beijing Olympics are expected to attract 21,600 accredited media from all over the world.
Source: Beijing 2008

It matters not what international newspaper or wire report you get pretty much the same conclusion — construction work for the Olympics will be finished in time.

Kevan Gosper, vice president of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) coordination commission, said ‘We are very happy with the progress. They are right on schedule with the construction.’

The main stadium, the Bird’s Nest, which will hold 91,000 spectators will be complete by the end of March next year.
The neighboring water sports complex, the ‘water cube,’ as well as the other facilities are expected to completed by the end of this year.

The plan may sound very ambitious, but the organizers are confident that the schedule can be kept.
Sun Weijia, chief of media operations at the organizing committee said, ‘It can be done. The workers labour in shifts around the clock, seven days per week.’

The media interest in the Games is a record in itself. Some 5,600 journalists and photographers were accredited by the IOC to cover the events.

On transport Beijing’s mayor Wang Qishan saw the inauguration of a new 27-kilometer subway line as ‘a sign of our determination to give priority to the development of the city’s public transport infrastructure.’ By next year, the subway lines will be extended from the current 142 kilometres to 200 kilometres to provide access to all Olympic sports facilities.

The organisers have also received accolades for the athlete’s accommodations.

Gerd Graus, an official German observer of the proceedings said, ‘The athletes will be more than pleased with the Olympic Village, which offers nice rooms with ample space and good comfort.’

Are there any problems?

The weather and the smog. The IOC has voiced concerns about the expected hot and humid weather that typically prevails in Beijing in August, as well as the smog.

Road traffic restriction trials in August this year only slightly improved the air pollution, but at least resulted in much better traffic flow.

Kevan Gosper is convinced that the measures, if rigorously maintained during the Games, will help to alleviate the otherwise daily traffic congestion. He said, ‘I don’t foresee any problems with transportation.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Press Commission Chairperson Richard Kevan Gosper (Shown here. Note the Kevan bit is important because there are many other people named Richard Gosper.) said during a current World Press Briefing in Beijing that the Games organizers are doing great work with media operations at an international level, but the challenge ahead is how to implement the revised media regulations at street level.

He said, ‘The challenge is that everybody involved in ensuring media has good working conditions, should understand new regulations, and people can move freely to report, quickly to report and receive information.’

Some 330 delegates from 130 international media organizations including Inhaul News Agency, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, New York Times, Washington Post, The Times and CNN attended the meeting.

To fulfill the commitment to provide a good working environment for international media during the Games, China issued earlier this year a set of regulations and a service guide for journalists.

Richard Gosper said, ‘The regulations have been reviewed very realistically by the Chinese government and the changes of regulations were extremely welcome. Those have been translated into very workable guidelines. The changes of the regulations have been very important for our journalists but there is still more work to be done.’

Some 21,600 accredited media professionals, including 5,600 journalists and photographers from print media are to attend Beijing Olympic Games.

Source: China Daily

Organizations and companies that plan to use electronic communication equipment at next year’s Olympics should submit their license applications as soon as possible.

Chen Ying, from the Beijing Olympic radio frequency regulatory office, said, ‘I want to remind all organizations and institutions to register as soon as possible, because we are now close to the deadline’.

1,000 organizations are expected to employ some 10,000 pieces of electronic equipment, including SNG (satellite news gathering) systems, interphones and broadcast stations, at the Olympic Games.

License applications for such equipment have been invited since the beginning of the year, but the deadline is December 31.

Chen Ying said overseas organizations that wish to bring radio transmission equipment into China during the Games must apply for their licenses via the website.

She said all the relevant information and regulations regarding the operation, import and export of radio transmission equipment can be found on the site. She said, ‘All equipment and the way in which it is operated must comply with the related laws and regulations.’

As of yesterday, almost 300 organizations had applied for licenses, of which 100 had been successful. Most of them are broadcasting companies, Olympic Family members and official suppliers. Our illustration is of BOB. Which is Beijing Olympics Broadcasting.
Source: People’s Daily Online

50 volunteers are getting ready for the task of covering Olympic press briefings. Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 2008 Olympiad (BOCOG) has announced that Renmin University and University of Missouri-Columbia (shown in our illustration) signed up for a volunteer project in which the two universities will cooperate to select and train 50 English-native-speaker volunteers for 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The University of Missouri-Columbia will recruit graduates and undergraduates and train them during this semester with special knowledge and skills to ensure those students will be competent for the tasks assigned by BOCOG in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Much of their work of their tasks will be writing press conference highlights. Not a job to be envied.

These students will be involved in BOCOG’s Olympic News Services (ONS) team which will be under Media Operations Department’s direction.

Renmin University will provide the volunteers with free accommodation and will also present lectures on Chinese culture.

University of Missouri-Columbia is one of thirteen international universities who will recruit and train ONS volunteers for BOCOG.

These are but part of a larger team. There will be 300 English native speakers trained in BOCOG’s Olympic News Service International Volunteers Project. Six cooperating Beijing Universities will take care of their housing. The international universities are mainly from the United States, Britain and Australia.
Source: China View