The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Brussels

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urged Europe's main broadcasting body Friday not to cave in to pressure from the Olympic Games governing body to restrict Internet radio broadcasts.

The media watchdog said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to use special technologies to limit Internet radio broadcasts from the Beijing Games to Europe alone.

"We would have hoped that the EBU would have taken a stronger line with the IOC," said spokesman Oliver Money- Kyrle, but he added: "The clear focus of our complaint is towards the IOC in demanding and imposing these restrictions."

"This is another example of further restrictions of the work of journalists and of the access of the public, to report on what's taking place in the Olympics, which is a major, global public event," he said.

In a letter sent to the EBU Thursday, the Brussels-based watchdog denounced the "extravagant requirements" imposed by the IOC to use geo-block technologies to deny radio access to users outside Europe.

In a statement, it urged the EBU to support its radio members, "which in the name of freedom of information would refuse to comply with dictates imposed by the IOC and Chinese authorities".

The run-up to the Olympics, which Beijing hopes will be a showcase for its rising global power, has been marred by a series of controversies-the latest when China back-tracked on Internet freedoms for the visiting foreign press.

Some banned websites were unblocked Friday after the uproar, but President Hu Jintao said it was against the Olympic spirit to bring politics into the Games, and that raising these issues served no purpose now.