BEIJING — Chinese officials are denying reports they're keeping dossiers on foreign journalists who are planning to cover the Beijing Olympics.

With fewer than nine months until the 2008 Summer Games open, Chinese officials attempted to back away Tuesday from widely published comments that the communist government is assembling a database to monitor foreign reporters.

The Foreign Ministry and the Beijing organizing committee struggled to contain the damage from a front-page story in the state-run China Daily, with officials offering a series of denials 24 hours after the report appeared.

The story raises questions about the country's pledge of increased media freedom, part of a successful campaign in landing the Olympics six years ago. It also suggests China's authoritarian government may have heavy-handed plans for dealing with the 28,000 reporters expected for the Games.

"The report you mentioned is incorrect,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Tuesday. "There is no such database.''

"I have confirmed that it was a mistake by the reporter,'' Liu added. "The reporter misunderstood what the official was saying. He was speaking about fake reporters in China, Chinese people pretending to be foreign reporters in China.

"There have been instances of people tricking others. He was talking about this. But in fact this has nothing to do with foreign reporters.''

In the China Daily story Monday, the head of the General Administration of Press and Publication -- Liu Binjie -- was reported saying a database on foreign reporters was being compiled. The story said the profiles could be used to ferret out "fake reporters'' who might slip into China.

The GAPP is the regulatory agency for books, newspapers and magazines. The English-language China Daily newspaper is generally considered the official voice of the government on important matters like the Olympics.

It claimed that information already had been compiled on the 8,000 foreign reporters who will be allowed to work inside Olympic venues, while authorities were building a database on another 20,000 foreign journalists who will be permitted to work in China during the Games.

Only reporters with Olympic media accreditation can work inside the venues.

"It's impossible that there's such a database,'' said Liu. "The application process (for reporters)  hasn't even started yet so how could there be a database?''

He said there were no plans for a database, just the usual record of "everyone's registration'' after the accreditation process is completed.

Separately, two top Olympic officials said they had not seen the China Daily story until they were shown it Tuesday by an Associated Press reporter.

"China's policy for foreign reporters is quite open,'' said Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympic Media Center. "The surveillance of reporters or a blacklist does not exist.''

Li was seated alongside Sun Weijia, director of media operations for the Beijing Olympics. Sun also said he had not seen the report.

Li acknowledged his office was compiling "simple data'' on reporters, largely to know if their main interests were sports, economics or politics. He said this would help his staff give "better service'' to journalists.

"I do not know the function of the database you have mentioned,'' he said. "The major purpose is to provide better service to reporters. The purpose is not to monitor the press or anyone.''

Li was asked if he could confirm reports in Hong Kong newspapers that Chinese journalists are being directed by government officials to write positive stories about the Olympics, steering away from negative reports on pollution, food safety and the conflict with Taiwan over the route of the torch relay.

"I have never heard of this kind of thing through administrative orders,'' Li said.

"We cannot through ministry orders get foreign reporters to cover only the good side of the story,'' he added. "It is impossible because the reporters can see the real China through their own eyes.''

Though the International Olympic Committee has argued the Games are "a force for good,'' in China, the alleged reporter database is the latest in a series of tactics aimed at stifling dissent and criticism in the run-up to the event.

China's intelligence services have been gathering information on foreign activist groups, aiming to head off protests and other political acts.

Last week, U.S.-based monitoring group China Aid Association said the Ministry of Public Security issued a secret order banning those who fall into broad categories such as "antagonistic elements'' and "members of illegal organizations.''

Also on the list were "media employees who can harm the Olympic Games,'' the group said.

Almost a year ago foreign reporters were exempted from the usual demands of having to apply for permission to travel and conduct interviews in China.

The temporary rule is in effect until mid-October of 2008, after the Olympics, although China still tracks foreign reporters working in the country.