With less than a month to go before the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a new controversy is quietly brewing about the role of bloggers and other citizen journalists. Back in February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued its guidelines for blogging, podcasts, and photoblogging for the 2008 Beijing Games. The guidelines are rules for blogging and any other user-generated content and actually start “8 days prior to the Opening Ceremony of the Games until 3 days after the Closing Ceremony of the Games.” The guidelines state directly that:
The IOC considers blogging, in accordance to these Guidelines, as a legitimate form of personal expression and not as a form of journalism. Therefore, the IOC does not consider that blogs by Accredited Persons, in accordance with these Guidelines, will compromise paragraph 3 of Bye-law to Rule 49 of the Olympic Charter which states that “Only those persons accredited as media may act as journalists, reporters or in any other media capacity”.
Ironically, this language appears intended to clarify past policies and relax restrictions on blogging by athletes and coaches. It creates a loophole by defining blogging as a form of personal expression, distinct from journalism. Using this framework, it then restricts allowable content to personal observations and experiences:
It is required that, when Accredited Persons at the Games post any Olympic Content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, blogs of Accredited Persons should take the form of a diary or journal and, in any event, should not contain any interviews with, or stories about, other Accredited Persons.
In addition, athletes and other “Accredited Persons” are banned from incorporating either video or still images into their blog posts:
The dissemination of moving images of the Games through any media, including display on the Internet, is a part of the IOC’s intellectual property rights. No sound or moving images (including sequences of still photographs which simulate moving images) of any Olympic events, including sporting action, Opening, Closing and Medal Ceremonies orother activities which occur within any zone which requires an Olympic identity and accreditation card (or ticket) for entry – e.g. competition and practice venues, Olympic Village, Main Press Centre – (“Accredited Zones”) may be made available, whether on a live or delayed basis, regardless of source.
This raises the question of how the IOC will deal with the mainstream media blogs that currently exist. For example, ESPN has a blog, ESPN Olympics Blog. NBC has a number of blogs about the Olympics on their NBC Olympics website. The New York Times also has a blog dedicated to the 2008 Games. The list will continue to grow, on through the Olympics themselves.
These big media blogs pose something of a paradox under the IOC rules: if blogs are considered a form of personal expression distinct from journalism, then by definition can journalists be bloggers? In today’s media world, the answer is, of course yes. But based on the IOC guidelines for blogging, will these mainstream media outlets be liable for violating the prohibition on writing blogs containing interviews, videos or stories about people at the games? Or does the IOC consider mainstream media blogs to be exempt as “accredited media” under the aforementioned paragraph 3 of Bye-law to Rule 49 of the Olympic Charter?
And what about citizen journalists who may not have special access to behind-the-scenes venues, but who will certainly be want to post about the day-to-day drama of the Games? Where does that leave them? Are they as well subject to enforcement of the IOC’s blogging guidelines? But an even more intriguing question may be: Can the IOC even enforce those guidelines? Nir Ofir, founder of BlogTV.com, doesn’t think they have a prayer:
There is no doubt that they just cannot stop it. Millions of Chinese with camera phones will make this year Olympic games the biggest UGC [user generated content] covered sport event ever. Thinking that these user generated videos, pictures and sounds will hurt the traditional media is childish. The right way was to use those uber connected Olympic visitors in an exciting and engaging
ways to become citizen reporters.
So is the IOC trying to control something that is inherently uncontrollable? Will citizen journalists continue to blog despite the prohibition against it? If so, would the IOC truly sue thousands of people? And, how will they find the people? Will internet providers, mobile companies and actual governments turn over the offending users’ personal information to the IOC?
Seems highly unlikely. What is likely is that both traditional media and citizen journalists will be following any repercussions with great interest.