Australia’s press pack has been consigned to the sidelines at the Commonwealth Games after organisers imposed what publishers say are impossible restrictions.
Seven paid an estimated $40m for the rights for free-to-air, subscription, online, radio, social media, mobile and HbbTV, leaving very little room for other media players in what will be the biggest sporting event in Australia this decade.
A long-running battle over restrictive rights to video highlights of the Games has led to a boycott of official media accreditation by News Corp and Fairfax Media – but the ban does not extend to ignoring the event all together.
News has purchased individual tickets for its reporters rather than seeking accreditation and playing by organisers’ strict rules, designed to protect Seven’s multimillion-dollar rights investment.
There are more than 1,100 journalists and photographers carrying official Commonwealth Games accreditation, which gives them access to press conferences and use of official footage – but News Corp and Fairfax staff won’t be among them. Instead, Australia’s two biggest media companies will be watching events on television or from the stands.
Despite this, the News Corp tabloid the Gold Coast Bulletin will carry the logo of Official Supporter, newspaper and news site for the games.
Tuesday’s Gold Coast Bulletin front page. pic.twitter.com/ZuS1h5tw1p
— ben english (@bennyglish) April 2, 2018
Inside the tent, Seven staff will be part of a 2,000-strong contingent of rights holders and host broadcast teams.
A spokeswomen for the home town paper, the Gold Coast Bulletin, and the Queensland flagship the Courier Mail says the company did not seek accreditation because of the restrictive news access rules (Nars) around the use of footage, which is exclusive in Australia to rights holders Seven.
Publishers have to wait 30 minutes before broadcasting anything from a news conference and have to limit digital news bulletins to a maximum of 60 seconds a day across no more than three bulletins a day, according to the rules laid down by the Commonwealth Games Federation.
By not seeking accreditation, publishers won’t have photographers or journalists in the media only areas, or have access to athletes’ press conferences. But they will be able to report immediately, rather than wait 30 minutes.
“We will have a full complement of staff covering the event – we bought tickets and will have reporters in the stands, around the track,” the Gold Coast Bulletin spokeswoman told Guardian Australia. “We are confident we will provide our most comprehensive and innovative coverage of the Games for our readers.”
Traditional rival Fairfax Media has lined up next to News in this case, refusing to play by the Commonwealth Games’ rules.
“Fairfax Media’s position is that its Australian news mastheads don’t accept the accreditation restrictions,” a spokesman said. “We believe that we will best serve our readers with Games coverage by reporting under our fair dealing rights.”
And our coverage will be the better for it. Page 5 of @smh today: pic.twitter.com/P67zpyZ41U
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) April 4, 2018
Fairfax and News will abide by fair dealing rules, which say you can use images and video for news reporting but sparingly. News Corp has not said if it will film from the stands.
Gold Coast Games officials say the contentious news access rules have been commonplace for many years to enable fair news reporting by non rights-holders rather than relying upon copyright fair dealing laws.
“They are a standard part of media accreditation during events like the Commonwealth Games,” a spokeswoman said.
“The GC2018 news access rules take precedent from the previous Commonwealth Games and updated, as appropriate, to reflect the changing media landscape. News access rules for events like the Commonwealth Games continue to be updated, as appropriate, to reflect the changing media landscape. The GC2018 news access rules set out the arrangements permissible on digital platforms, while protecting the commercial rights of rights holding broadcasters.”
Seven is the Australian broadcast rights holder and joint host broadcaster together with studio facilities company NEP Group and the UK sports programming provider Sunset+Vine.
The ABC is the exclusive non-commercial radio broadcaster of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and will have a team of 12 specialist sports broadcasters and commentators headed by ABC Grandstand’s Karen Tighe, providing coverage for the radio networks.
After Nine broadcast footage of Saturday night’s opening ceremony dress rehearsal, authorities ruled it was a clear breach of news access rules and Nine was banned from covering the actual opening ceremony. The network says it has been told its accreditation will be restored at 8am on Thursday.
Demands to relax the rules issued last year by the News Media Coalition, which represents Fairfax, News Corp and other leading global news agencies including the Guardian and Reuters, AFP and Associated Press, fell on deaf ears.
The Games have not been without their early hiccups.
A Goldoc spokeswoman has apologised for a formatting error in the official program, which had England listed as an African nation.
“Goldoc is aware of a formatting error in the England team overview section of the official GC2018 program,” she said. “The formatting error occurred when The Gambia was reinstated back in to the Commonwealth and subsequently the Games only a few weeks ago.
“Goldoc was determined to include The Gambia in the official program and, with the late addition and update to the program, the page required reformatting at the last minute at the printers, causing the error. We’re delighted The Gambia has joined the Games and apologise for the reformatting error in the program.”
Four days to go and the „official“ Commonwealth Games newspaper @couriermail has just six pages coverage. News Corp is boycotting @GC2018 #media accreditation over extreme rights restrictions. #GC2018 #journalism pic.twitter.com/5kbNE2zLSc
— Stefan Armbruster (@StefArmbruster) March 30, 2018
At the 11th hour, News and Fairfax were given restricted access to the main press centre where all significant news conferences with the premier or police will be held.
But the access is for news gathering purposes only and does not permit journalists access into any venue, a News spokeswoman said.
“Fairfax’s access to the media centre is by invitation of Goldoc and our journalists are not subject to the News Access Rules for Accreditation, which we do not agree to,” a Fairfax spokesman said.
