Olympics get new Beijing news venue

The 2022 Beijing Media Center, which is mainly geared to serve journalists without official Olympic accreditation, will open for registration at 10 am on Saturday.

The center's official website will also be unveiled at the same time. To register, people from different media outlets need to visit the facility's website and fill in relevant information, including identification, press certification and proof of vaccination.

The deadline for registration is 10 am on Jan 10.

The Beijing Media Center is the second Olympic-related media venue built in the capital, and supplements the Main Press Center.

The new facility allows nonac-credited journalists to cover side events during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which will be held from Feb 4 to Feb 20.

The new facility, with a capacity for about 2,000 journalists, is located in the conference hall of Beijing International Hotel in the city's downtown district, and will provide services from Feb 1 to Feb 20. The services will be in line with the Olympic Host Contract and international practices, which include providing news releases and hosting interviews. The center will also host news conferences and organize city tours.

The center will set up official social media accounts, including those on WeChat and video-sharing platforms Douyin and Kuaishou.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation, the facility will mainly accommodate resident journalists from the Beijing offices of overseas media outlets. The principle is that it will not accept, unless necessary, applications from foreign journalists who come to China temporarily and those from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan who come to Beijing temporarily.

The number of domestic journalists using the facility will also be limited.

This media center will not be placed in a closed-loop management system, but COVID-19 protocols must be followed.