Many thoughts as we come out of the week of one-year-to-go celebrations for the Beijing Olympics. Much of the Western media has focused on the potential problems - pollution, political controversies, and the like. When I was living in China I always sensed that news being printed overseas felt overly negative - and yet there is a tremendous legitimacy (not to mention responsibility) for the media to hold up a mirror towards China and to say, this is what we see right now. Especially since the foreign media have rights and freedoms that clearly do not exist among China’s domestic media at this time in history. It’s a mixed bag and a bittersweet moment - the development of China will take decades and decades, and the Olympics are just one small piece of the puzzle of that country’s overall development.

Jacques Rogge comments on this issue in an article on CNN.com:

Rogge: Olympics can speed development (CNN.com)

In other Olympic-themed journalism news, S.L. Price’s story on China one year out from the Games is a part of this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated. I was involved in the research for this piece and found Price to be endlessly curious and fascinated by all that he saw during his trip.

Olympic China (SI.com)