Media will have the same freedom they have enjoyed in other Olympic host cities when they cover the Beijing Games in 2008 but will have to respect Chinese law, the head of the IOC's inspection team said on Thursday.

Hein Verbruggen, whose IOC coordination commission has just concluded its inspection, said chief Beijing organiser Liu Qi had last year reaffirmed China's commitment to allow journalists to work freely.

"It's a very important part of our discussions, a very important subject because the media is the largest group of people we're going to have here," he told Reuters.

"Including the technical people, it's going to be more than 20,000 people, double the number of athletes.

"We've demanded this by the host city contract, the media have to be able to work as they have at other Olympic Games."

Verbruggen added that just as in the United States and his native Netherlands, there was no escaping obedience to local laws for reporters.

"In this country there are laws and they have to be respected," he said. "That is something we have to accept and everybody has to accept.

"As long as the media behaves in the normal way, then I'm sure there will be no problems ... If it's in the law, then it is in the law."