Advice for Journalists during the Beijing Olympics

As the Beijing Olympics approaches, journalists and NGOs give their advice to ensure freedom of expression, including the use of psiphon. See posts from Rebecca MacKinnon and ReportersWithoutBorders (RSF)

Beijing Olympics Advice from ex-CNN journalist
By thomascrampton ⋅ July 27, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Journalists coming to cover the Beijing Olympics must balance convenience and paranoia when it comes to their digital security, according to Rebecca MacKinnon, former Beijing Bureau Chief of CNN who now teaches digital journalism at Hong Kong University.

In this video Rebecca offers tips on how to:

1- Get behind the Great Firewall
The Beijing government blocks access to many websites (Wikipedia, some publications, many blogging sites).

To reach these sites, reporters will need to set up a VPN such as WiTopia or use a browser enabled with TOR.

That said, the government seems to be unblocking much of the Internet and may remove most blocks at international hotels and press centers during the games.

2- Keep your Communications Private
To ensure your communications are secure from government snooping, don’t use MSN Messenger or most other chat services.

A simple way to ensure a higher level of email security with Gmail is by adding an S for a secure connection. Instead of http://mail.google.com/ add an S to make it https://mail.google.com/.

For those who want even more secure options, there is Vaulet Soft or PGP to encrypt email. More details available on the Frontline Defenders digital security website.

Keep in mind, however, that the recipient of your email must also be using secure email to keep your message private. The best way to be absolutely certain communications are secure is to have substantive communications in person. (Didn’t they have conversations near a running shower in John Le Carre novels?)

3- Protect your sources and fixers
As a foreign journalist you are not in any real danger.

The worst thing that will happen is to a foreign journalist is getting kicked out. Your main concern should be for your local sources and assistants who will be in danger if you misquote them or place them at odds with the government.

They - and their families - could suffer the consequences of your story long after you go home and the Olympics ends.

4- Scramble your data
Chinese authorities have been known to copy laptop data from jouranlists who leave computers in their hotel room.

If you are concerned about sensitive information, you could scramble your laptop hard drive, keep your laptop with you at all times or keep sensitive information on a USB key.

5- Do smart stories
Rebecca’s concern is that there will be many so-called Parachute Journalists arriving on their first trip to China and eager to make a splash.

“I doubt we will see much dissident activity, but there will be a lot of journalists roaming around looking for a story,” Rebecca said. “I have told many of my friends to avoid speaking with parachute journalists, because the outcome of being misquoted could be devastating.”

RSF

30 July 2008

Advice for foreign journalists covering human rights situation during Beijing Games

With less than two weeks to go to the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the human rights situation in China has never been such a burning issue. The government’s all-out focus on security and its crackdown on human rights activists are as important as the sports events themselves.

The authorities have denied the existence of any crackdown although around 10 Chinese activists have been detained for criticising the way the Olympic Games are being organised. It is vital that the fate of these “Olympic prisoners,” including Hu Jia, are not forgotten during the games.

Reporters Without Borders urges the thousands of foreign journalists visiting Beijing and other parts of China during the games to look at the issue of free expression, although it will not be easy.

The authorities issued new rules for the international press in January 2007 that supposedly give foreign journalists the right to go anywhere and interview whomever they want. But these rights have been repeatedly violated, above in Tibet and Sichuan.

Reporters Without Borders therefore offers the following practical advice to foreign journalists to help them cover the human rights situation in China.

1. Install programmes on your computer that will help you to circumvent firewalls and protect your communications. Before going to China, you should install Tor (www.torproject.org/index.html.en), Psiphon (http://psiphon.civisec.org/) or Proxify (https://proxify.com/). The international version of Skype is recommended, rather than the one available in China, which is not secure. It is also advisable to encrypt emails with PGP (http://www.pgpi.org). More information is available in the Reporters Without Borders Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents: http://www.rsf.org./article.php3?id_article=26187

2. Protect your computer against Trojan viruses and ensure that it is password-protected. Do not leave your equipment and contact lists in an accessible condition in a hotel room.

3. When making phone calls or sending emails, bear in mind that there is no guarantee of confidentiality. Use several SIM cards, especially when contacting “sensitive” people.

4. Before leaving to China, get the contact details of Chinese human rights activists, lawyers and relatives of prisoners of conscience. Reporters Without Borders can provide journalists with lists of people willing to talk to the foreign press.

5. Do not use the services of Chinese companies that offer interpreters and guides. These companies are linked to the government and their employees could easily try to prevent you from investigating sensitive issues or could endanger your sources. Try to use the services of Chinese interpreters and fixers who are freelancers, or foreign journalists who speak Chinese.

6. Take the following with you when you go out reporting: the Chinese-language version of the rules for foreign journalists, your embassy’s contact details, photocopies of your ID documents and press accreditation, and the phone numbers of BOCOG and the Chinese foreign ministry.

7. Monitor the following independent Chinese-language sources of news about China: the BBC in Chinese (http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese), Radio Free Asia in Chinese (www.rfa.org/mandarin) and Boxun (www.boxun.com).

8. Any violation of your freedom of movement and right to interview should be reported to your embassy, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (www.fccchina.org) and Reporters Without Borders. It should also be reported to BOCOG and the IOC. In the event of any conflict with the authorities, use the legal hotline set up by Chinese lawyer Li Baiguang (139 108 02 896 or olympic@lawyer.com).

9. Read the Reporters’ Guide to China that has been written by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.