UPDATE 3-Olympics-Media not told of censorship plan, IOC say

(Adds foreign ministry quotes, paragraphs 16-18, fixes lit in 10th para)

By Paul Radford

BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) - The international media should have been told they would not have completely free access to the internet before they arrived to report the Beijing Olympics, IOC press chief Kevan Gosper told Reuters on Thursday.

As the row over censorship continued to rumble, Gosper said that both he and the international media had been taken by surprise that some sensitive websites had been blocked despite many assurances from Beijing organisers that they would be able to work normally during the Games, which start on Aug. 8.

Gosper said: "It's clear that I have been providing, on behalf of the IOC, incomplete information."

Gosper said he had never been told that IOC officials had held discussions with local organisers BOCOG that some websites not directly connected to the Games could be blocked.

"Had I and the international media been informed earlier of this understanding that certain websites would be inaccessible, we would not now find ourselves in the position where they, as well as myself, have been taken by surprise," he said.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned internet restrictions during the Games as "compromising fundamental human rights and betraying the Olympic values".

"This blatant media censorship adds one more broken promise that undermines the claim that the Games would help improve human rights in China," Amnesty East Asia researcher Mark Allison said in a statement.

COUNTLESS MEETINGS

Gosper told Reuters he was surprised that he had not heard the IOC had discussed the matter privately with BOCOG as, in his position as chairman of the IOC's press commission and vice-chairman of the Beijing co-ordination commission, he had been involved in countless meetings about press operations for the Games.

BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide said censorship would not prevent journalists reporting the Games though he acknowledged there would be no access to some websites, such as those of the Falun Gong, which he described as "an evil fake religion which has been banned by the Chinese government".

"According to Chinese law, the internet cannot be used to transmit information that is illegal, such as that promoting the evil cult Falun Gong. Nothing can appear which threatens the national interest," he told reporters on Thursday.

BOCOG consistently assured journalists attending press briefings ahead of the Games that they would have normal access to the internet.

Also on Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman repeated assurances that China stood by Olympics reporting rules that ease restrictions on foreign journalists.

"Our determination to enforce these regulations is staunch," spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference.

"As for how the International Olympic Committee understands these regulations, that's its own affair," he added.

The reporting rules ease curbs on foreign journalists' ability to report outside major cities but reporters still complain of facing hassles from local authorities.

The regulations had been due to expire in October, but Liu Binjie, head of the General Administration of Press and Publications, said this week that China was committed to extending them indefinitely.

Foreign and Hong Kong television crews complained they were roughly handled by police when filming chaotic scenes at Games ticket sales in Beijing last week.

Liu suggested the Chinese authorities bore some of the blame for scuffles between reporters and police at the ticket sale.

"Both sides should reflect. There are some problems where I think the Chinese side needs to make adjustments and improvements to some methods," Liu said, but added that foreign reporters were obliged to follow the law and obey police orders. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Lindsay Beck and Chris Buckley) (For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" here; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china)