if a crowd roars in the stadium, and nobody covers it, does it make a noise?

Clearly, no country can afford to boycott the Beijing Olympics, despite the compelling reasons to do so. But the world's major media outlets could. Imagine the impact if no reporters turned up. The broadcast would go forward--too much money has been invested. But what if nobody tuned in?

A news media and fan blackout could actually be more effective than a national boycott.

The question is whether anybody has the balls, or we'll once again trot out our platitudes about objectivity.

I guess you already know the answer to that one.