Charles Krauthammer made a fascinating suggestion on the Fox News All-Star panel yesterday:

Unfortunately, if this were to happen at all, it would probably have to happen in the opposite order: Many Western media outlets act on the profit motive, and threatening not to cover the Olympics unless China grants immediate access to Tibet isn’t a very profit-friendly move. Far more people watch the Olympics than watch foreign-conflict coverage, so betting the former to secure the latter isn’t too smart.

Western governments would have to lead the charge, offering subsidies to the networks before the networks even thought about making the threat. But as the panelists discussed elsewhere in the program, Western interest in leveraging the Olympics against the Chinese just isn’t very high. France is making some gestures toward boycotting the opening ceremonies, but that’s about it.

Finally, there’s the ethical question of the government using media outlets as foreign-policy tools, and of the media outlets agreeing.