Human Rights and Olympic Games in Beijing: A Study of 20 Prestigious Newspapers from Different Continents

This article deals with the problem of the human rights in the context of the Olympic Games in Beijing. The goal of this media study is to show how different newspapers from different countries, representing different cultures, languages and political backgrounds, presented and commented this problem at the moment of the opening of the Olympic Games that politically were considered controversial, because of the human rights abuses of the Chinese regime. 20 prestigious newspapers from different continents were analysed, demonstrating a global perspective and global pluralism. This article is based on a paper presented at the conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research dedicated to the problem of the human rights and communication, held in 2009 at UNAM in Mexico City.