The father-in-law of US men's volleyball team coach was fatally stabbed and his mother-in-law was seriously injured by a lone Chinese man while sightseeing in Beijing on August 9.

So how did China and its media deal with the story? What it had always done: it put the news through a cycle of red-washing.

According to the Times Online, the state-run Chinese media is trying to distance the murder from the Olympic Games, with its TV channel CCTV and the printed press removing the victim's connection to the US volleyball coach so his death wouldn't affect the luster of the Games. In effect, the victim is reported to be just some American who got murdered while sightseeing.

Chinese reporters who covered incident got their notebooks and voice recorders confiscated. Foreign press were shadowed and secretly photographed. There's probably a good likelihood that their sources will get a visit from government after the Games.

Those believing China has changed its tunes in regards to human rights and freedom of the press probably also believe the Olympic Games are not political.

Read the Times Online report here.