A lot has been said about whether the press will be able to report freely in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. New rules for the press went into effect this year that loosen restrictions on where reporters can go in China and who can be interviewed.

But as I head to Beijing to cover the one-year-to-go events, my worry is whether there will be someone I can speak to easily and quickly about the Olympics, much more than whether I can travel to western reaches of China to interview herdsmen.

There is less than a year before Beijing goes into the Games-time mode with the accompanying crush of 20,000 members of the media. Even so, BOCOG and the government remain unprepared to deliver the information the media will demand.

Compared to past Olympics, Beijing scores close to a zero in outreach to the foreign media, at least compared to standards set by past Games. At this stage of the 2004 Olympics, there was a daily flow of press releases and phone calls from Athens. It was the same four years earlier for Sydney.

Spokesmen for those organizing committees -- as well as government agencies -- were well-known and easily reachable by phone or email. They could speak with authority and knowledge to reporters seeking information about the Games.

Such is not the case for Beijing. An under-sized media relations team at BOCOG has neither the resources nor the power to comment on Olympic preparations. Municipal and national governments, despite their substantial role in matters of public security and transportation, have explained little or nothing to non-Chinese media.

To its credit, BOCOG has produced a website with plenty of stories and pictures, though light on details. Website readers even have the chance to point out factual or grammatical errors, but no website can take the place of personal contact.

Language is a big hurdle. Few foreign reporters speak Chinese. On the other side, the language skills of media officers for BOCOG or the government often do not include English or French, the two official languages of the Olympics. Despite promises by BOCOG to bring international experts to the media department, it still hasn't happened. One of the world’s leading public relations firms has been under contract to Beijing 2008 for more than year, but it's not clear whether the expertise has been put to use by BOCOG.

A press conference BOCOG hosts each Wednesday at its Media Center would seem to be a window to the Games for the international press. But with poor Chinese to English translation, a limit of one question with no follow-up and no opportunities for one-on-one questions, media have grown frustrated with the arrangement.

The daily news briefings that will take place next year at the Main Media Centre could be stormy affairs if the IOC agrees to the level of service delivered by BOCOG today.

China made the discovery centuries long ago that a wall, no matter how long and mighty, could be breached. The same fate awaits the virtual wall China has built for the Olympics, made from silence and bureaucratic procedures. The press will find an open gate.

Op Ed is a weekly column of opinion and ideas from Around the Rings founder and editor-in-chief Ed Hula. Comments, as well as guest columns are welcomed: comment@aroundtherings.com