As the news gathering pack makes its way to B.C., J-Source’s
Town Hall is digging into the ethics of Olympic reporting.
Canadian journalists in particular have been dogged by charges of dodgy ethics,
with some reporters carrying
the torch, and others freelancing for official
Olympic publications.  If that wasn’t
enough to blur the line between reportage and cheerleading, Vancouver
dailies decided to get into the game of sponsoring a government
information centre, thus helping pay for the Olympic spin that
will bedevil their journalists.

And it seems spin is the order of the day, not critical
coverage. In November Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman was detained and questioned
at the border by officials reportedly fearful of what she might say about the
Olympics in a public lecture. And as far back as July, Chris Shaw, author of Five Ring Circus, was detained and questioned
by members of the Integrated Security Unit outside a Vancouver
coffee shop.

As always, there’s nothing like a little state paranoia to get the
games rolling. It seems like only yesterday that J-Source was reporting on China’s attempts to muzzle
the Olympic press corp.

(The Olympic flag flying outside the B.C. provincial legislature. Photo by Makiristos).