Australian agreement on sports press access

Media groups, sports federations and representatives from the Australian Federal Government and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have brokered a deal on the coverage of sports events in Australia.

The deal, signed in Canberra on 30 March, sets out a voluntary code of practice that would serve as the framework for covering sport in Australia. The code takes into account the economic interests of sports bodies in protecting their media rights, as well as guarantees on protecting the rights of media organisations to reports sports news, and sets out a clear guideline on what constitutes news coverage and what constitutes commercial coverage.

Administration of the code will be overseen by a committee headed by Kevan Gosper, the former IOC vice president, who described the agreement as a "very good outcome".

"Positions have been properly defined ... in such a way where the media is able to clearly sustain its freedom to send news and information and pictures out to the public, and the sporting organisations recognise this is in their interest.

"There's been a clear definition of what is commercial (use) and what is news," he told the AAP news agency.

Government supportThe deal has also been received positively by the Australian Government’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, who was concerned about recent developments in sports broadcasting leading to restrictions on press coverage.

"There have been issues between some sporting and media organisations and several media agencies have been unable to gain access to major sporting events for the purpose of reporting the news," Senator Conroy said in a press statement.

"The Government was concerned that these breakdowns in communication would adversely affect the Australian public’s traditional access to news reporting of sporting events."

Key players sign dealSo far, the sports federations that have signed up to the deal are the Australian Football League, Australian Rugby Union, Cricket Australia, the National Rugby League, and Tennis Australia. Media signatories include Fairfax Media, News Limited, Australian Associated Press, Agence-France Presse, and Getty Images.

The agreement seems set to end the threat of an international media agency boycott of the 2010 – 2011 Ashes series between hosts Australia and England, reports AFP, a development welcomed by Cricket Australia.

"Like all codes it seeks to balance the interests of all parties and we're keen that it do that," said Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young, reports AFP.

"What we're really keen on doing is getting on with the business of staging cricket matches and exciting the Australian public about them, and we need media coverage to do that."