A deal has been struck between the governing body of Australian cricket and a coalition of sports journalists over the online coverage and picture rights of a test match series.
Cricket Australia and News Media Coalition, which said it represented the views of media agencies and companies worldwide, agreed a deal on accreditation in time for next week’s second Test Match between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The MNC said today: ‘The successful outcome, although provisional, follows lengthy discussions aimed at ensuring that there are no fees for journalist attendance or any arbitrary limitation on news distribution; editors can update their websites more frequently with pictures, text and data… editorial decisions remain in the hands of the editors.”
Both Cricket Australia and the coalition agree however that agreement is for the current season only and that talks should begin ‘imminently’on future agreements.
The cricket board had previously told journalists they must pay for accreditation and that pictures taken in the ground could not be re-sold without its permission.
Three journalists from the News Corp-owned paper The Australian were turned away from the first Test Match earlier this month after they refused to pay or hand over picture rights.
Reuters, Associated Press and Getty all temporarily withdrew their coverage of the match and one Sri Lankan newspaper, the Sunday Times, illustrated their coverage of the match with a black silhouette of a cricketer.
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