11/08/07

No resolution in dispute; AP, international agencies refuse to cover cricket test

By JOHN PYE
AP Sports Writer

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- The Associated Press and other leading international news agencies did not cover the first cricket test between Australia and Sri Lanka on Thursday amid a dispute over terms of accreditation.

And News Ltd., Australia's largest media company, only agreed to terms after an apology from Cricket Australia for comments its public affairs manager made about News Ltd.'s motives for covering the game.

The two-test series between the two top-ranked countries started with no agreement between Cricket Australia and a global coalition of media organizations including The AP, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

The AP said its journalists in all media -- text, photos and video -- would not cover the Brisbane match, due to end by Monday, or a Nov. 16-20 match in Hobart until the dispute is resolved.

Among the media coalition's main concerns are Cricket Australia's insistence that agencies pay for the right to license photos of its events to editorial users, and limits on distribution of news and images to online news publishers.

CA also is asserting an intellectual property interest in stories and images produced by journalists at its events.

"Despite an attempt to work out our differences this week, the terms being imposed by Cricket Australia remain unacceptable in present form to the AP, which is seeking rules that respect our editorial integrity and our right to distribute AP stories and images without arbitrary and self-serving restrictions imposed by others," The AP said in a statement.

"Cricket Australia is basically demanding that we pay them for the right to cover and distribute news about cricket," AP associate general counsel Dave Tomlin said. "That's what their demand to be paid a license fee for our syndication of AP photos at CA matches comes down to. We don't pay news sources for the right to hear and tell their stories, and we don't pay organizers of newsworthy events for the right to cover them.

"When we start doing that, both we and our sources can kiss our credibility goodbye. We still hope to make CA understand how fundamental this is for us, and should be for them."
Peter Young, Cricket Australia's general manager for public affairs, told The AP that his priority Thursday was resolving issues with domestic media.

Young said he did not think negotiations with the international news agencies had advanced during the opening day of play and that the accreditation issue had detracted from the match.

"The preference would be for the public and media interest to be on what's happening on the field, that is for certain," he said.

While some Australian news companies accepted revised terms offered to domestic media by CA and covered the opening session of the match on Thursday morning, journalists and photographers from the international news agencies and News Ltd. were locked out.

News Ltd. staff were directed not to cover the start of the match by management after Young made comments on Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio about the company.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said the comments were "uncharacteristic" and inappropriate.

"I hope we can resolve current discussions as soon as possible," Sutherland said, "and get back to the business of staging and reporting cricket."

News Ltd. later issued a statement saying that it had successfully completed negotiations on the terms it sought.

"Our staff will resume normal coverage of the test tomorrow with full accreditation," the statement said.

With India scheduled for a four-test series starting Dec. 26, newspapers across the subcontinent could be without photos of two key series unless a resolution is reached between CA and the international news agencies.

Cricket Australia has said it is acting to protect its commercial value in the "changing media landscape."

A similar dispute between the International Rugby Board and a coalition of the international news agencies and major news organizations that threatened to overshadow the start of the World Cup was only resolved an hour before kickoff of the tournament in September.