Olympic chiefs today said they were investigating reports that Beijing officials confiscated the notebooks and tape recorders of Chinese journalists covering the Games.

A witness at a press conference involving the US men’s volleyball team yesterday claimed local reporters were accosted after frank interviews with some of the players about the murder of Todd Bachman.

The 62-year-old American, who was stabbed by a Chinese man while sightseeing in Beijing on Saturday, was the father-in-law of Hugh McCutcheon, the US team coach.

The Beijing Olympic staff claimed they wanted to know what was said because they had not properly understood the discussion in English, despite the presence of official interpreters. But the Chinese journalists did not later recover their notes or tapes, according to the observer.

The incident raises concerns that the Chinese authorities are trying to erase the Olympics link to the murder of an American citizen in order to limit damage to the image of their games.

Mr Bachman’s connection to the US volleyball team was initially reported on CCTV, the state television channel, and in the Chinese-language press. However, the news was relegated to a paragraph on the front of the English-language China Daily and has subsequently been removed from some Chinese internet sites.

Comments relating to the “death” of Mr Bachman were carried on the Olympic News Service, the official intranet system in Olympic venues, but the quotes by American players had been edited.

Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee (Bocog), claimed he had no knowledge of the incident. He said: “Chinese journalists have rights to cover the Olympic Games. Their rights are protected by the Chinese constitution.”

A spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the matter was being investigated. It has maintained that journalists would be free to report on the Games, not just inside official venues but outside as well so long as local laws were respected. The freedom is a contractual obligation between the IOC and Beijing, the host city.

But the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) accused the Chinese authorities of “snooping” after it received reports of security officials shadowing the media on assignments in Beijing.

On Saturday, as journalists covered the scene of Mr Bachman’s murder and the subsequent suicide of his Chinese attacker at the Drum Tower, a tourist spot near the Forbidden City, their notes were photographed by unidentified strangers.

In a separate incident, a foreign journalist told the IFJ he had been stopped by two men with no press accreditation who took pictures of him and his notes after he had interviewed a French athlete at the airport.

Similarly, journalists interviewing a discontented landowner in Tiananmen Square were photographed by strangers who refused to identify themselves.

“This is unacceptable interference in the work of journalists,” Aidan White, IFJ general secretary, said.

“Once again we call on the Chinese authorities to make good on their promise that journalists can work without intimidation. Protection of journalistic sources is a cornerstones of press freedom. This sort of activity shows complete disregard for that principle by the Chinese authorities.”

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