Media coalition 'very concerned' over IPL guidelines

The News Media Coalition (NMC), the umbrella body that has under its wings global news and photograph agencies Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France Presse and Getty Images, has once again expressed deep concerns about limitations on access imposed by the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Andrew Moger, spokesperson for NMC, told Cricinfo that the rights of the public are best served by a free and unfettered press and the IPL's restrictive policies are avoiding that. "The NMC is very concerned about the IPL terms which represent a serious and unprecedented curtailment of the freedom of the press to fully report events of public interest."

Despite the IPL releasing fresh terms and conditions after vociferous protests from the media against its original guidelines on accreditation for the event, news agencies are still left high and dry because they are prohibited from selling photographs to websites or newspapers.

Moger said such a practice went against media's objective of giving the best available information to the reader. "In particular, anything which threatens to dismantle the interdependence between news sectors such as newspapers and agencies will not be in the best interests of the public."

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, had an almost two-hour meeting with representatives of various media in India on Monday, and all parties announced later that they had removed most of the bottlenecks. Even then, some of the contentious clauses remained, including the ban on selling photographs and the bar on representatives from websites covering matches.

"We recognise that the IPL have tried to listen to the considered views of the established news media, but as the terms now stand it is clear that further concerns must be addressed", Moger reiterated, adding it was in the best interests of IPL to remove the roadblocks.

Moger pointed out that there was "no formal industry stand" although with the IPL's deadline for applying for accreditation tomorrow, a boycott by the news agencies is still not ruled out. "Each media organisation must make its own decisions about the terms," Morger said. "To that extent it is a matter for all our consciences."