2008 Olympics
Lineup for August 6, 2008
With the Olympic Games about to begin in China, Felix Gillette, John Koblin, and Tom Scocca look at the press descending on Beijing and note, "When President Hu Jintao held a press conference with selected foreign journalists on Aug. 1, it was not clear whether getting an invitation to attend had been a mark of honor or disrepute."
"Henry Holt’s flagship imprint has a new editor in chief," writes Pub Crawler Leon Neyfakh. "Who it is we don’t know yet, nor will we for two or three more weeks unless the wrong person hears about it and sings." Plus: McNally Robinson becomes McNally Jackson.
Plus: Penny Crone, Broker?... Subway summer reading... Tanks.
The End of a Beijing Binge
BEIJING—The last night of the old, normal life, July 19, was mild and beautiful. The air was clear, even though the Olympic rules would not take effect till the next day: the driving ban on half the city’s three million private cars, alternating daily between odd- and even-numbered license plates; the halt to construction digging and cement pouring. Tomorrow, by plan, the Olympic city would be in place.
I had spent the morning and early afternoon 80-some miles away in Tianjin—the Newark to Beijing’s New York. I had in mind that I would return on the brand-new bullet train, but the bullet train isn’t open to customers yet. read more »
How I Became a Prop for China
Covering the rush to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing, this reporter inadvertently became a mascot for China's new spirit of cooperation with journalists. read more »
