A list compiled by Play the Game over journalists who have been assaulted, killed or endured legal actions for their reporting on sport clearly show that safety is an issue for sports journalists too as the many stakeholders in sport threaten journalists and freedom of expression in different ways.

China is yet to live up to its Olympic pledge of free media access. Findings from a survey by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China show that government interference is still commonplace for overseas journalists, while Reporters Without Borders, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and other rights groups, all highlight the dangerous position of domestic journalists.

Athletes going to the Pan-American Games in Brazil next month can update their blogs and websites during the event after all. Four months after telling athletes from 42 countries that they could not “report for on-line sites during the games”, the organising committee has made a complete u-turn on the sensitive topic of athletes’ right to free speech.

Organisers of the Olympic Games in Beijing have promised that foreign journalists can travel freely around China, interview who they want and enjoy uncenscored access to the Internet during the Games. New freer regulations on reporting in China up to and during the Olympics came into force on 1 January 2007 but the application of the new rules show that there is still some way between promises and reality.

Millions of pounds are in the pool when the Premier League and YouTube take their fight to court. Claiming that YouTube has violated copyright law, the Premier League hopes to get a lucrative deal. YouTube says that the Premier League has misunderstood the law.

Each month brings fresh examples of how organisers of sport events try to limit media coverage. But is it sound business or a breach of freedom of the press when the Australian Football League refuses accreditation to overseas news agencies and the International Rugby Board restricts the use of photos from the Rugby Union World Cup? In the end, the question may be superseded by what sponsors think.

Julu Johnson, a sports editor for the Liberian newspaper News, was physically attacked by the deputy secretary general of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) when he went to cover LFA’s recent extra-ordinary congress. The attack took place in full public view of all the delegates.

China has issued a new set of rules for foreign journalists who want to cover issues in China up to and during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. According to a spokesperson from the Foreign Ministry, foreign reporters will be allowed to travel anywhere in the country without prior permission from local authorities.