Local organizers, in concert with the International Olympic Committee, have imposed the tightest restrictions on reporters ever for an Olympics, which begin Feb. 4. The IOC says the measures are necessary to prevent the spread of covid-19, which was first detected in China’s Hubei province in late 2019.

But others view the measures as a pretext for what the communist government has long sought to do: control China’s image by suppressing independent reporting.

“It’s naive to think the pandemic hasn’t played right into China’s hands,” said Christine Brennan, a USA Today sports columnist for whom the Beijing Games will be her 20th Olympics. “They would have wanted to control us, anyway. This just gives them another excuse. China will be China.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists cast the situation in Orwellian terms. “Assume your hotel room is under surveillance,” the New York-based advocacy group warned in a “safety advisory” last week. “Assume that everything you do online will be monitored. Any call made using a hotel landline or cell phone is not encrypted and can be intercepted. . . . Any conversation you have in your hotel room may be subject to eavesdropping.”