The Associated Press will not be covering this year's IPL cricket
tournament in South Africa because organizers have imposed unacceptable
conditions on media outlets covering the event, according to a report on iol.co.za.
The AP and major international news organisations Reuters and Agence France-Presse sought to persuade Indian Premier League organizers to change their minds about terms and conditions imposed on media. The News Media Coalition, an association that represents a worldwide collection of news organizations, has also tried without success to resolve the dispute.
IPL chief executive Lalit Modi refused to amend conditions, including one that bars media groups from supplying news and photos about IPL events to Web sites that specialize in cricket. The IPL has signed an exclusive agreement to supply news and photos about the Twenty20 tournament to one Web site.
"We can't allow the sponsor of a newsworthy event to specify where news gets distributed," said Dave Tomlin, the AP's associate general counsel. "This is a case in which a sports association is now in the information business too and is trying to carve out an exclusive segment of the news market as its own to exploit. It's wrong."
Click here to read the full report, posted on iol.co.za.
