The coalition of 30 bodies - including the World Association of Newspapers, the Association of International News Agencies and the Newspaper Publishers  Association – is complaining that the IRB's demands (below) are a restraint on press freedom. Some have argued, such as Follow the Media's Philip Stone, that this is a plain business issue.


The delegation representing news media organizations from around the world met the International Rugby Board (IRB) in Dublin on Aug. 16. The agreements resulting from the talks will be known in early September.

A document circulated by Andrew Moger, of Media-Mojos Consultancy and representing the Newspaper Publishers Association and coalition of news media organizations, outlines the main points of disagreement between the media coalition and the IRB:
- Limits on the number of your copyright pictures on the web during world cup games (no more than five images per half of normal playing time - no more than two per half of extra time)
- Rules preventing newspaper journalists producing news audio-visual at the venues (journalists can't take, capture, produce or transmit via any media or device any sound recordings or audio transmission or any live (or “as live”) sound reporting of the Tournament)
- No recognition that newspaper websites should be able to run extracts from broadcasts for inclusion in news coverage – as is permitted by law and as is becoming the norm in many countries. Only stills are allowed.
- No pictures at all to newspaper mobile/PDA news services
- Demands that the IRB has free, life-long and worldwide rights to use your copyright material for its books, websites etc
- Restrictions on page design preventing graphics, text and other images from being superimposed on pictures from the games.

The World Association of Newspapers and other media organizations have traditionally fought against sports bodies trying to limit their coverage rights. Recent examples include, as mentioned by the Guardian’s Mark Sweney:

- In the last Ashes series, Cricket Australia threatened to ban the tolerated "fair use" policy – the right for media to use up to two-minutes of licensed AV coverage without paying fees or breaching copyright.
- In last year's soccer World Cup, a last-minute deal was struck between FIFA and the WAN. WAN described the deal only as "tolerable" because mobile rights were excluded.
 

Under the IRB’s current restrictions, such illustrations are banned (neither overlays nor text):



Newspapers and other news organizations have shown their resilience to sports coverage controls in the past (still from Moger’s document) through:

- plain refusal to cover a sports event (German photojournalists refusing to cover the soccer league)

- running a story about the restrictions instead of the event

- cropping pictures or choosing illustrations that don’t depict advertisers:




Hopefully, such treatment won’t be necessary during the Rugby World Cup. Soon to come, an update about the outcome of the IRB and news delegation meeting in Dublin.

Source: WAN