On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, President Bush met with eight bloggers and new media users from China, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Egypt and Belarus.

The White House said Bush planned to discuss “the challenges they confront in overcoming censorship.”

Six of the individuals met with Bush at the White House; participants from Egypt and Venezuela joined by teleconference.

The White House also highlighted the efforts of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to aid citizen journalists. BBG oversees international radio broadcasters such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Farda, as well as television networks like Alhurra and TV Marti.

BBG news outlets are getting reports out of heavily censored countries by getting citizen journalists to submit information from cell phones, SMS feeds and e-mails, and encouraging participation in its radio, television and blog discussions.

Partnering with nongovernmental organizations, BBG also has developed free anti-censorship software and technical tools that are available in English, Persian, Kazakh, Mandarin and Vietnamese. A BBG spokesperson said users can go to one of those language sites and sign up to get updates, which include information “alerting people to work arounds” for the ongoing battle with the state censors.

The international news media discovered to their consternation July 29 that Chinese censorship of the Internet will not be taking an Olympic holiday. So any online research you’d like to do on sensitive topics like Tibet, Tiananman Square or the Falun Gong had best be done before getting on the plane to Beijing.

But there is hope. U.S.-based Network World has some ideas to help you protect your access to information and hang on to information you’ve collected.

Hints in the article, Top Ten Ways to protect your Data at the Beijing Olympics, range from the obvious – “Keep your laptops, PDAs and cell phones within sight at all times” – to encryption advice and links to anonymizer sites designed to hide your Internet activity.

China’s Internet restrictions seem at odds with its pledge to allow free reporting during the Games. At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said that Chinese Internet access has grown, but “China would be enhanced and continue to prosper if it allowed for more freedoms.”

President Bush will be attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, but Perino said he also plans to talk to Chinese leaders about human rights, democracy and Internet freedom.

Do you have hints you’d like to share, or stories of bad experiences you can help others avoid? Please express them!

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The Olympics might be the “ultimate choreographed event” according to Human Rights Watch, which estimates 25,000 journalists will be coming to China in August to cover the 2008 summer games.

This longstanding critic of the Chinese government has published a “survival guide” for sports journalists who stray into sensitive topics or find themselves confused as to their rights or how to respond to being monitored by the authorities.

One of the reasons many countries compete for the honor of hosting the games is their hope for prominent, positive media coverage. According to the Human Rights Watch guide, Olympics reporting “invariably includes coverage of the host country, its challenges, its policies, and the context in which the Games take place.” It anticipates “some of the most important stories will be found outside of sporting venues.”

But covering China’s culture and society in a manner that meets the professional standards of journalism could prove challenging for reporters not used to the sort of restrictions the Chinese government imposes. The guide gives practical advice such as documents to carry and useful contacts inside the country. It also offers background on human rights issues and stresses the importance of protecting Chinese contacts.

The release of the guide seems to underscore Human Rights Watch’s skepticism of assurances by Wang Wei, secretary-general of the Beijing Olympic Games Bid Committee, who promised the international media “complete freedom to report when they come to China” when the country made its Olympic bid in 2001.

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That depends on what you mean by “scoop.”

At 14:28 local time on May 12 the Sichuan, China, earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, was felt in Beijing, some 1,500 kilometers from the epicenter. The first report on the Twitter micro-blogging service (https://twitter.com/) came at 14:35:33, according to an analysis by Martyn Williams of the IDG News Service. A user, probably on a cell phone and limited to 140 characters, typed out the message “earthquake. not sure how big. maybe 4.5.” The message went out immediately to Twitter subscribers.

Twenty-three seconds later, at 14:35:55, Bloomberg News ran a bulletin “Earthquake Shakes Beijing Office,” and followed 22 seconds later with “Earthquake Felt In Central Beijing.” The Dow Jones Newswire ran with “Earthquake Rocks Beijing; Still Underway” at 14:36 and Reuters reported “Beijing Shaken By Earthquake, Office Buildings Sway,” at 14:37, Williams reports. At 14:39, Reuters announced “Earthquake Magnitude 7.8 Hits Eastern Sichuan Province” with information it obtained from the U.S. Geological Service, which measures seismic activity worldwide.

Twitter had beaten the newswires with the fact of the quake, but offered no substantive information. It wasn’t until 14:41 that Twitter subscribers got news on the magnitude and location of the quake.