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Board of WAN calls on sport industry to recognise value of event coverage

Text of Resolution

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers, meeting at the 61st World Newspaper Congress in Göteborg, Sweden, from 1 to 4 June 2008, expresses its deep concern over the growing tendency of sports organisations to restrict press coverage of their events, both in print and digitally.

Rules promulgated by sports leagues, clubs and governing bodies, contained in contracts which must be accepted to gain access to events, increasingly: assign ownership of all photographs to the sport organisers; limit or ban publication of photos on websites; ban critical reporting that could bring the sport 'into disrepute';  bar 'fair use' of audio-visual materials on websites; ban news delivery on mobile devices; set conditions on how photos can be used in print; stop bloggers from working in stadiums and arenas; and attempt to control coverage by personnel who are not even present at an event.

WAN notes with concern that certain sports bodies have lobbied for a change to Intellectual Property law in an attempt to establish statutory rights over editorial coverage of their sports.

WAN condemns these practices as an attack on free access to information and calls on sports organisers to:
  • fully recognise the direct contribution a free press makes to public interest in their events and to the value open press coverage gives to event partners such as sponsors.
  • fully recognise the right and duty of a free press to report on matters of public interest without interference or imposition of editorial controls.
  • abandon their imposition of unilateral and unnecessary rules governing journalist access and activities and to engage in meaningful discussions with publishers and their representative bodies to agree appropriate terms for each event.
WAN urges all media that produce independent, original and timely news content to resist these attacks on press freedoms by:
  • raising awareness of the threat to news coverage of important events.
  • challenging unnecessary restrictive access rules, issuing public declarations and supporting industry campaigns to ensure delivery of sporting news to the public by the appropriate means, both now and in the future.
(read the full resolution at http://www.wan-press.org/article17289.html)