Press Releases

04/06/2009

AP, other agencies will not cover IPL tournament

LONDON (AP) — The Associated Press will not cover this year's IPL cricket tournament in South Africa, citing unacceptable conditions imposed on media reporting from the event.

The AP, along with Reuters and Agence France-Presse, tried to persuade Indian Premier League organizers to change the terms and conditions, including a ban on supplying news and photos about IPL events to Web sites that specialize in cricket.

The IPL has signed an exclusive agreement to supply news and photos about the Twenty20 tournament to one Web site.

The News Media Coalition, an association that represents a worldwide collection of news organizations, also has tried without success to resolve the dispute.

"We can't allow the sponsor of a newsworthy event to specify where news gets distributed," said Dave Tomlin, the AP's associate general counsel. "This is a case in which a sports association is now in the information business, too, and is trying to carve out an exclusive segment of the news market as its own to exploit. It's wrong."

The world's major news agencies also declined to cover last year's inaugural tournament because of similar issues. This year's tournament has been switched to South Africa because of security concerns in India.