The Washington Post:

Instead of writing about pandas or Olympic food, Western journalists are mostly covering stories that the Chinese government would rather they not — the city’s chronic pollution, for instance — and complaining about a lack of access to Internet sites and the famed Tiananmen Square.

Their determination to cover stories critical of China has proved that they have their own ideas about what constitutes news and how to pursue it. And at the same time, their frustrations over access underscore the gap between the kind of freedom they are used to enjoying and the control that the Chinese government is used to wielding.

As noted in previous posts, it’s a shame that China hasn’t kept its promise of unfettered access for reporters. But it’s a point worth noting that many foreign journalists entering China for the Olympics are interested in exploiting that promise not to report on the Olympic but to gain access to issues that are usually off-limits or taboo in the country (such as Tibet, political dissidents, and religion) and will attract more interest in their readers back home.

A bit of a cheap trick, to be sure, and one that seems to legitimate Chinese accusations that Westerners are trying to “politicize” the Olympics. To be fair, however, it’s a door that the government opened itself. Aside from the promises made so that Beijing could realize its Olympic bid, comments made by Hu Jintao recently make clear that China has long intended to use the Olympics to boost its international profile and influence. This may not be the sort of politics we imagine when we think about reshuffled cabinets or canceled treaties, but it is politics nonetheless–a way of boosting soft power that relies on the very foreign media China is grumbling about to be effective.

So we have a China trying to use the foreign media and a foreign media trying to use China–can’t they both just recognize this and try a little harder to get along?

Hu and the foreign press: When will they stop their bickering and recognize their true feelings for one other?