A Parliamentary Assembly report warns that growing limits on journalists at major sporting events threaten independent reporting — concerns the News Media Coalition has raised throughout the run up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will debate a report on media freedom in sport on Thursday 25 June in Strasbourg. The Assembly brings together parliamentarians from the 46 Council of Europe member states, and the sitting will be livestreamed on the PACE website.
The report was adopted unanimously by the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, meeting on 2 June in Istanbul. Prepared by rapporteur Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen (Norway, EPP/CD), it sets out the structural, political and societal pressures on media freedom in sport, among them restrictions on journalistic access, contractual limitations, and the growing control of content by rights holders.
The report by Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen (Norway, EPP/CD), adopted unanimously by the committee, emphasises that these developments “may further affect the ability of journalists to report freely and independently across a range of major competitions and high-profile international events,” such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
In its analysis of the road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the report draws directly on the News Media Coalition’s own reporting. It warns that these trends “may further affect the ability of journalists to report freely and independently” — and, at that point, cites the NMC’s article “NMC Calls on FIFA to Further Enable Independent News Journalism at the World Cup.” The NMC’s Chief Executive, Andrew Moger, is also among the experts the rapporteur thanks for contributing to the report.
The draft resolution the Assembly will vote on calls on Council of Europe member states to guarantee fair, transparent and non-discriminatory access for journalists to events, athletes and institutions, and to review broadcasting-rights, accreditation and contractual rules so they do not disproportionately restrict reporting or the public’s right to information. It urges sports bodies and event organisers to avoid unnecessarily restrictive or costly visa and accreditation procedures at major events, to stop using accreditation to control editorial content, and to drop contractual terms that undermine editorial independence.
For the NMC, the report speaks directly to its campaign to protect and enable Primary Source Journalism — the everyday but vital reporting carried out on the ground in cities and communities, and at events of public interest including sport. Safeguarding that work, the NMC argues, depends on preserving genuine access for independent journalists, photographers and video teams, rather than leaving it to be defined by rights holders or commercial partners.
NMC Chief Executive Andrew Moger will be in Strasbourg for the debate, working with the rapporteur, the committee and other advocates to build on the report’s momentum. The Assembly’s resolution will be put to a vote during the sitting.
Source: PACE — Committee denounces restrictions on media access in sport and growing control of content
