A little over a week ago, the Editors Weblog asked whether there would be news coverage of the World Cup. At the time though, it was believed (although the information wasn’t released) that the IRB and news organizations had agreed on most points when they had met in Dublin.

The positive outcome was to be announced on Sep 3. Just the opposite happened when it was revealed that the IRB didn’t change its position about a deal-breaking issue, image copyrights.

Today major news agencies announced that they were suspending their coverage of the events altogether.

“Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Getty Images announced they were suspending text, photographs and television coverage of pre-tournament events and training sessions,” reported Reuters.

At the same time, the agencies make it clear they would like to resume coverage, but only upon reach of acceptable conditions.

Without a doubt, the IRB will have to urgently review its policies, pressured by sponsors for whom the current status would be disastrous.

Source: Media Guardian - Reuters