Scottish newspaper industry handed just four accreditation spaces to cover London 2012 Olympics
The Scottish newspaper industry has been granted just four accreditation spaces to cover the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Sources within the Scottish media have claimed that Scotland has been reviewed as a region of the UK and allocated a low number of media accreditation spaces by British Olympic Association (BOA) as a result.
It is understood that one journalist accreditation was handed to The Herald, The Scotsman and the Daily Record each, while one freelance photographer has also been handed accreditation to cover the whole of Scotland.
It is thought that the Scottish Sun is likely to use coverage provided by its London counterparts, as will the Scottish Daily Express and Scottish Sunday Times.
DC Thomson, which publishes The Sunday Post, applied but was not given any accreditation, The Drum has learned.
As a result, several of the Scottish titles are said to be unhappy, with speculation that the allocation numbers could lead to the media north of the Border aiming for negative coverage of the Games.
It is understood that the issue has been referred to the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society which has yet to issue a response.
The accreditation process for the London 2012 Olympics Games closed in October last year, with BOA, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and Great Britain and Northern Ireland, responsible for the allocating media requests for both the written and photographic press within the UK.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is said to have awarded more accreditations than in the past for next year’s Games, and over 3,000 applications made from around the world, with only 400 accreditations available.
In order to assist with the allocation process, the BOA established a Media Accreditation Committee, made up of journalists and photographers who have attended previous Games, or from within UK media, which acted as an impartial committee which then reviewed and offered input into recommendations made by the BOA.
The committee was expected to represent the interests of all print, online and photography organisations, as well as freelancers who were aiming to cover the 2012 Olympics.
In the end 270 news journalists, 80 photographers, 20 sports journalists, 20 sports photographers, eight support staff and 12 technicians have been granted accreditation (410 in total).
The BOA has explained that in deciding which titles to grant accreditation to, circulation numbers, history of attending Olympic Games and continuous editorial commitment to Olympic sport through the four-year Olympic cycle.
A BOA spokesperson said: “The extraordinary interest and demand from UK media saw the British Olympic Association receive more than 3000 requests for the approximately 400 accreditations awarded to us by the International Olympic Committee. This made it an exceptionally challenging assignment and it has unfortunately made it impossible for us to satisfy everyone’s wishes. We are looking at a number of services that will assist non-accredited media with the information they need to do their job – from access to athletes in non-Olympic accredited areas during Games time, to phone interviews, to flash quotes and more.”