In the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese government has made a string of announcements that it is providing greater access to foreign newspapers and loosening restrictions on foreign correspondents. Critics say the talk hasn't necessarily translated into freer journalists or improved domestic access to information.

U.S. lawmakers are among those who argue China hasn't made enough progress in the direction of a free press and respect for human rights.

"There were early indications that China was prepared to improve its behavior as the games approached. As a condition of hosting the Olympics, I'm told that Beijing committed to allowing greater press freedoms, and issued new and more relaxed rules for foreign journalists," said House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., in a statement Wednesday during a committee hearing titled "China on the Eve of the Olympics." But "China failed to honor these commitments," Berman said.

The deal in China is that people can do pretty much whatever they want as long as they stay out of politics -- and don't challenge the Party. --James Lewis, CSIS

"Foreign journalists, entertainers and other Olympic visitors are having their backgrounds screened for alleged 'anti-China' activities before being granted visas," noted House Foreign Affairs ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., in a statement.

On Wednesday, Berman proposed a resolution calling on China to "guarantee access to information." It states: "Because of China's failure to improve its record on supporting human rights at home and abroad, the resolution that we approved today calls on China to take immediate, substantial and serious action if there is to be any hope that the Olympic Games will take place in an atmosphere that honors the Olympic spirit of freedom and openness."

The committee approved the resolution Thursday, and it was sent to the House floor.

China's state-run news agency responded with a quote from a Foreign Ministry spokesman calling the resolution a "groundless accusation" that goes "not only against the Olympic spirit but also against the wishes of people and athletes all around the world, including the United States."

"We suggest some U.S. lawmakers immediately stop their wrong words and deeds aimed at disrupting the Beijing Olympic Games by using the human rights issue so as to avoid harming the healthy, stable development of China-U.S. relations," read a quote attributed to ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

China's state press reported Wednesday that foreign newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, have been on eight newsstands near the Olympic venues in Beijing and Qingdao since Monday. Xinhua News Agency also reported that some of these publications -- from the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan -- "are being offered by retailers for the first time in China," and that all are accessible to both locals and foreigners, according to an official.

That might seem like a small step, but it's a relatively liberal policy for China, which is regularly accused of restricting access to news content. A report from the OpenNet Initiative, an organization that promotes Internet freedom, says that the filtering of news online in China is "predominantly focused on Chinese-language content relating to China-specific issues," but it's hardly limited to that. The BBC is blocked in China, and Voice of America and the Epoch Times -- a New York-based newspaper founded by members of Falun Gong, a spiritual group long persecuted by Chinese authorities -- are filtered.

Diane McNulty, executive director of media relations with the New York Times Co., said in an e-mail that the Times print edition is normally not sold in China except by airmail. The International Herald Tribune, a subsidiary publication, is available there for businesses that cater mostly to foreigners, "though it is not impossible for local Chinese to purchase copies of the newspaper," McNulty said. She added that the Times' Web site is accessible in China.

Foreigners have long been able to buy foreign newspapers at designated areas such as hotels, wrote Victor Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, in an e-mail. "One pre-Olympic measure is that China will allow international newspapers temporary wider production, but not wider distribution," said Cha.

The bottom line, according to Cha, is that the ability of foreigners to access international print newspapers will increase during the Olympic Games, but not the ability of Chinese residents to access uncensored media. However, any government steps taken in the direction of press freedom or greater access of information -- whether on the Internet or in print -- will give domestic Chinese the ability to "push the boundaries of restraint," Cha added.

China has taken a couple of steps in the last year that it says have created a more open and friendly atmosphere for foreign correspondents operating there. For example, China's government news portal states that foreign media attending the games are free to conduct interviews as long as they get permission from the people involved in the piece. And a recent report from Xinhua News notes that foreign reporters no longer need to be accompanied by a Chinese official when reporting in the country.

But some watchdog groups say China hasn't done enough to create a more friendly media environment prior to the Olympic Games.

"The government's monitoring structure promotes an atmosphere of self-censorship," a representative from OpenNet initiative said. "If published materials are deemed dangerous to state security after they appear in the media, the information can then be considered classified and journalists or editors or media managers can be prosecuted." James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, puts it this way: "The deal in China is that people can do pretty much whatever they want as long as they stay out of politics -- and don't challenge the Party."

Human Rights Watch complained earlier this month that though some foreign reporters have noticed improvements in media freedom in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the "systematic surveillance, obstruction, intimidation of sources and pressure on local assistants are hobbling foreign correspondents' efforts to pursue investigative stories." The watchdog group also accused the Chinese government of prohibiting local Chinese-language media from publishing unflattering news ahead of the games.

Along similar lines, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported on July 8 that "26 Chinese journalists remain in prison, and heavy government censorship remains in place despite Beijing's broad assurances -- made in its 2001 bid to host the event -- that journalists would be given 'complete freedom' during the Olympics."

Some of those on the ground agree: The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China says that the Chinese government has recently made it "more difficult for journalists to obtain visas, delaying or preventing correspondents from coming to China to report ahead of the Olympics."