Journalism Group Meets With Fifa Over Online Media Rights For World Cup ’06

A delegation from the World Association of Newspapers met with FIFA last week to discuss possible limits on coverage of World Cup 2006. The issue at the center: publication of images. Confederations Cup and World Cup Draw press rules banned publication of photos until two hours after the game, limiting even that to single still images. WAN expects the same from FIFA for the World Cup. Timothy Balding, Director General, WAN, says “international sports event organizers are increasingly introducing unreasonably restrictive conditions for the normal exploitation by newspapers of images and text in their electronic media.”
Not sure whether to laugh or cry at word that WAN has established a Sports Media Working Group “to examine the issue as sports bodies focus on selling internet and broadcast rights and place increasing restrictions on newspaper coverage of events.” They’re more than a day late; hope they don’t come up a dollar short. (via editorsweblog.org)

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