China, the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, was the focus of a global WAN advertising campaign that was carried by newspapers in 20 countries. The advertisements, which highlighted China’s press freedom abuses and noted that at least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are being held in Chinese prisons, urged readers to send letters to Premier Wen calling for their release.

The WAN campaign can be found at www.wan-press.org/china/home.php (there is still time for newspapers to run the advertisements in support of press freedom in China).

Despite criticism from international organisations and some governments, China has failed to honour the promises of reforms it made in its successful Olympic bid. Most recently, China reneged on a pledge to provide journalists covering the Beijing Olympics with unrestricted internet access and admitted it will censor internet content at the Olympic venues as it does in the rest of the country.

Chinese authorities promised in their successful Olympic bid that media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China." The authorities have not only failed to honour their pledge, but they have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression. Foreign journalists now reporting from China are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet.

Conditions are even worse for Chinese journalists themselves: 31 have been jailed since the successful Olympic bid in 2001, and 16 of those remain in prison - half of all Chinese journalists currently in prison.

WAN renewed its call on the International Olympic Committee to hold China to its promises, and has called on all going to the Beijing Olympics -- athletes, sponsors, media partners and others -- to "exert serious pressure on the Chinese authorities to cease their flagrant and persistent abuses of human rights" and to release all jailed journalists.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom and the professional and business interests of newspapers world-wide. Representing 18,000 newspapers, its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.