Beijing 2008 To Increase Surveillance – Host Media Meetings

China is building a video surveillance network to cover the entire city in order to ensure security, reports the Beijing Youth Daily. Some government departments will be given “unfettered access” to video footage.

The city is now equipped with 263,000 surveillance cameras but will install more in public areas by the end of the year and issue new regulations for the storage and sharing of video footage, said the newspaper.

By the end of 2006 exits and entrances to Beijing’s “key areas”, subway stations and major venues will be fitted with cameras equipped with facial recognition technology.

Operators of surveillance cameras at pedestrian bridges, underground walkways, restaurants and hotels would be required to keep 30 days of footage and cameras at major roads, public transport stations and on subway carriages must have more than several days footage.

Meanwhile Beijing is to host the World Press Briefing and World Broadcaster Meeting for the 2008 Olympic Games this summer, said Beijing 2008 executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu Thursday.

The World Press Briefing which is slated for September 25-29, is aimed at allowing international news organizations to get first-hand information about Beijing’s preparations for the Games.

Jiang said, “it will also give attendees a comprehensive review of the facilities and services that will be available for the accredited media during the Olympic Games so that they can effectively start to plan and budget their Games-time coverage and logistics”.

More than 300 delegates from radio and television rights-holding broadcasters from around the world will attend the meeting which runs from August 9 to 11. They will be briefed by the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (BOB) on areas such as broadcasting production plan, the International Broadcast Center and services to broadcasters. Write or read comments about this article

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