Aggressive foreign media shock officials

The comments from senior PR executives come as foreign journalists, about 10,000 of whom are descending on the city, criticised restrictions placed on internet access within the country.

“If they were a corporate client we would recommend a single point of contact,” said one PR agency source in Beijing. “At the moment they are running a disparate communications exercise.”

The Olympics is likely to have proved eye-opening for Government officials unused to the aggression that often characterises foreign media.

“They’ve learned some hard lessons about managing global communications and seem to be doing their best to learn from previous mistakes,” added the source.

While initial attempts to find a PR agency in April foundered, overseas Government offices have enlisted PR counsel to hone Olympics messaging in cities such as London, New York and Washington DC.