Times are changing, and so are the media

It's not only Olympic athletes who try to scale new heights - so do China's media.

In the social media age, Chinese journalists pursue the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster and stronger".

Every day, I read Sina Weibo, China's popular Twitter-like micro-blogging service, and find Chinese media - news agencies, national and regional newspapers, radio and websites - are very timely in updating news and information about the Games.

Amid fierce competition, powerful Chinese portals like Sina and Tencent strive to coax famous sportspeople and those overseeing the event to use social networks to communicate with legions of netizens.

I noticed swimmer Sun Yang has 9 million Sina Weibo followers.

As Chinese media swarm into London to cover the Olympic Games, journalists work hard to grab every opportunity and keep up with the pace of the world's largest sports extravaganza.

Every time I attend the Olympic news conferences in London, I can see Chinese journalists posting short stories or pictures on weibo using smart phones, and there's a real undercurrent of excitement.

At a company's PR event near central London's Trafalgar Square, Chinese sports legend Lang Ping, known as the "Iron Hammer", appeared for a while as an honored guest, who represents the Chinese National Women's Volleyball Team.

I met many Chinese reporters there. When Lang appeared, two young women Chinese journalists beside me snapped photos and very quickly posted a few words like "Lang Ping has attracted much attention" on their weibo.

"Let's see who's fastest," they joked.

I'm also impressed to see many Chinese media are paying greater attention to the Olympic spirit and humanity of the London Games.

China's national news agency Xinhua published some strongly worded comments on Wednesday, condemning the nation's badminton players after they appeared to try to lose their match at Wembley Arena.

"This behavior seriously violated the Olympic spirit regarding fair play ... Even if they finally win the gold medal ... maybe the audience won't give them any applause," one of Xinhua's comments said.

"In sports, morality should come before anything else. Whoever violated the rules should be criticized and looked down upon."

My British friend Eleanor asked me, with a bit of surprise: "Your State media fiercely criticized your badminton match-throwing scandal? Really?"

I replied: "Yes. The gold medal isn't what's most important."

Chinese media are changing and maturing as the country develops.

Years ago, they focused more on gold medals and success. But this time, I feel media expressed more sympathy and support for losers.

Both in print and online, many media are discussing the pressure the nation's athletes are facing after some publicly apologized for losing at the London Olympics.

Weightlifter Wu Jingbiao apologized in tears for "letting down his fans and his country" in a TV interview after winning silver in the men's 56kg weightlifting event.

Many media commented: "Competing for success is encouraged. Failure is also met with more sympathy and acceptance."

(China Daily 08/03/2012 page11)