Regulations for the accreditation of Journalists for Beijing 2008

In December 2006, the Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao signed a decree that deals with the regulations for foreign journalists regarding reporting of the events around the Olympiad.

At the announcement for the Olympic Games 2008, China promised to permit journalists both free access and free reporting rights without restrictions.  
The regulations for foreign journalists were set in force on January 1st 2007 and will apply until 17th October 2008, thus covering the preparation time as well as both the Olympic Games 2008 and the Paralympics 2008.

Visa for the Olympics 2008

In principle, there are only a few new points that apply for regulations regarding visa. Foreign journalists must apply for visa to the Chinese embassy. As soon as they become accredited for the Games, they will get „multi-entry-Visa“ and, as the Chinese government assured, will eventually become enabled to move freely in China and to report without any constraints. It is expected, that in total 5600 journalists shall receive accreditation.

Accreditation for the Olympic Games – application procedure

Foreign media were open to apply for accreditation for the Olympic Games to the responsible national Olympic committee until February 2007. The application forms will be passed on to the NOK's in March 2007, and will subsequently be forwarded by them to the media.

The completed forms have to be returned by the NOK to the organisation committee of the Games 2008, called „BOCOG“, until June 15th in 2007.
The second phase in the process of accreditation starts in November 2007. Until end of February 2008 the relevant press organisations have to clearly name the members of their teams, i.e. they have to do this by completing forms that will be sent to the NOK’s by the BOCOG.

Starting in May 2008, the „Olympic Identity and Accreditation Cards“will finally be handed out. The single categories of accreditation are specified as follows:

“E”:     Journalist,
“Es”:   Sport Specific Journalist,
“EP”:   Photographer,
“EPs”: Sport Specific Photographer,
“ET”:   Technician,
“EC”:   MPC Support Staff und
“ENR”: Non-rights holding broadcast organization.

ENR-accreditations can be applied for starting from March 2008. The BOCOG is directly responsible for this group, while the NOK’s are responsible for the other media.For more information see:http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1079.pdf

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