The 1st World Press Briefing for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held in
Beijing 25-29 September 2006, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of
the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced today.
The 1st World Press Briefing is designed to provide international news
organizations with the ability to review first hand the preparations for the
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It will offer attendees a comprehensive review of
the facilities and services that will be available for the accredited media
during the Olympic Games so they can effectively start to plan and budget their
Games time coverage and logistics.
The Briefing will comprise of venue tours, inspections of accommodation
facilities and a one day briefing which will include reports from BOCOG
departments on the sports, competition schedule and planned facilities and
services designed for the media at the Main Press Centre and venues, as well as
media accommodation, transport, accreditation, rate card, technology, photo and
news services.
Attendees will also have the additional opportunity to attend city and urban
tours of historical sites such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Hutong
districts for unique photo opportunities and a taste of the country's unique
history and culture.
BOCOG will utilize the ideas and suggestions proposed by the international
press during the briefing to further define and fine tune its media services and
venue operation plans.
First developed for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, World Press Briefings have
proven a valuable tool for Olympic organizers to provide up-to-date information
about Olympic preparations to the media while helping the news organizations
plan their media coverage. More than 100 delegates representing many of the
world's major news agencies and newspapers, as well as some broadcast news
organizations, National Olympic Committees and International Sporting
Federations, will attend the briefing.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will hold its important annual IOC
Press Commission meeting in Beijing on Monday 25 September, in conjunction with
the World Press Briefing.
The IOC Press Commission will debrief the recent Torino 2006 Olympic Winter
Games, as well as receive detailed progress reports from the Beijing 2008,
Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 organizing committees.
The Olympic Games is the largest media event in the world with over 21,600
media --16,000 broadcasters and 5,600 press and photographers representing over
200 countries -- who will be accredited to cover the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,
held from 8-24 August 2008.
