March 8, 2007
Mr. Andrew Demetriou
CEO, Australian Football League
AFL House
140 Harbour Explanade
Docklands VIC 3008
Dear Mr. Demetriou,
I am writing to you on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers, which represents 18,000 publications in more than 100 countries together with a coalition of the world’s major news agencies (Getty Images, Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, Reuters) which supply text and photos to all global media, to express our concern about the AFL’s decision to curtail and control photographic media coverage of the 2007 AFL season.
While global news agencies have not previously covered all AFL matches our concern is that the AFL has declared, both in its own media release and in response to direct inquiries from global news agencies, that the AFL itself will now be the exclusive agency that can provide the media with AFL images and that it will no longer provide media accreditation to global news agencies for any games in the 2007 AFL season.
It is our firm belief that your refusal to allow us media accreditation for the 2007 Season not only deprives our readers and clients of access to important information on a public event, but constitutes both an interference in editorial freedom and independence and a clear breach of the right to freedom of information as protected by numerous international conventions.
We are alarmed that in the name of maximising the commercial exploitation of these events, the AFL should effectively take the unprecedented step of turning its back on the news media which give life, on a daily basis, to football in all its different manifestations all over the world and have done so for decades.
We reserve our rights with regard to our legal options and also see it as our duty to bring to the attention of your sponsors the very clear loss of exposure from which they will suffer owing to the AFL’s new media accreditation policy. In addition, without media access rights in Australia we are of course not in a position to consider coverage of any AFL games played outside of Australia.
Needless to say, if you are ready to revise the AFL position and to restore the access rights to which we believe we are entitled, we are ready to discuss this with you.
Yours sincerely,
Timothy Balding
Chief Executive Officer
World Association of Newspapers |
