"We strongly hold the view that the AFL’s decision to curtail editorial media coverage for the 2007 AFL season is a dangerous erosion of independent and impartial press coverage, not only of the AFL, but also of global sports if the precedent is replicated by other governing bodies around the world", said WAN CEO Timothy Balding in a letter to Andrew Demetriou, CEO of the Australian Football League.

"Such a restriction in any area of news coverage would deprive readers of unbiased photo-journalism and usher in an era in which a legitimate news story could be potentially held hostage to vested interests," said the letter, which called for the lifting of access restrictions for photographers.

WAN and a coalition of international news agencies -- Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images -- have protested against the AFL’s refusal to provide media accreditation to global and foreign news organisations for any games in the 2007 season. The AFL has announced the creation of its own exclusive agency to provide the media with AFL images.

Read the full exchange between WAN and the AFL here.

The AFL action is part of a trend by sports organisations to control access and reporting on their events, in a short-sighted and often counter-productive effort to increase revenues. Restricting legitimate and independent news coverage with the goal of enhancing "exclusivity" for certain providers often has the opposite result -- interest declines and sponsors get less exposure for their products and services.

The restrictions can go far beyond the licensing of broadcast rights: restrictions on the number and timing of publication of photos, no content allowed for mobile telephone distribution, restrictions on coverage of press conferences and interview, no syndication, no live blogging, restrictions on special event supplements, and attempts to block critical commentary have all been sought or have been imposed by various sports organisations.

Newspapers are forced to agree to these restrictions when they sign the terms of accreditation to cover the events, and in many cases it is the photographers or sports reporters who sign without understanding they are giving up the rights of the newspaper to freely cover the events.

In recent months, WAN and the news agencies have also protested against severe restrictions placed on press coverage of this year’s Rugby World Cup in France by the International Rugby Board.

Newspapers in rugby-mad Australia and New Zealand have refused to sign the accreditation agreements, and the IRB has recently eased some of the restrictions, primarily concerning the amount of "fair use" video that can be posted on web sites. But serious restrictions remain, including the limitation on the number of still images that can be posted on web sites and editorial interference on how photos are handled in print.

"We are mainly concerned with one specific matter -- the rights of the press to provide independent photographic coverage for editorial purposes," said Mr Balding.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.