IPL withdraws finals accreditation for journalists

Johannesburg, May 22 (IANS) The Indian Premier League (IPL) has withdrawn accreditation for a number of journalists for the finals of the series that will be played at the Wanderers here this weekend, citing oversubscription.

'If you have not been explicitly notified that your application for accreditation for the final three IPL matches has been granted, this means that you do not have accreditation for these matches,' Trevor Jones, media director of Magna-Carta, the company handling media relations here for the IPL, said in an e-mail.

'Accreditation devices for those without accreditation for the final three matches have been deactivated. Anyone bearing these devices will be turned away at the gate.

'We have been approached by many people about the accreditation process for the finals, a number of whom we are hearing from for the first time.'

Jones said space in the press box at the Wanderers was very limited, resulting in venue managers making some adjustments to the physical space to accommodate as many people as possible.

'However, there is still not nearly enough space to accommodate everyone who feels they should have accreditation. Applications for accreditation were around double the number of press box spaces available.'

Jones said the criteria used in accrediting media was as follows:

- Cricket media from India who had travelled to South Africa explicitly to cover the IPL, 'almost all approved'.

- South African print media: One cricket correspondent and one photographer per media group.

- Non-Indian, non-rights holder broadcast media that have not attended matches until now, not approved.

- Media representing wire services and other non-South African media titles: Correspondents who are bona fide cricket writers (that is, people who have attended and filed from league stage matches) have generally been approved. Non-cricket writers, such as those who file colour pieces and the like, cannot be accommodated.

With many media reportedly querying the decisions, Jones apologised to those who could not be accommodated: 'We are indeed sorry that we cannot accommodate everyone from every media title who believes they should be there. Given that all space is already allocated, we simply cannot accommodate anyone else.

'We are sorry that we are not in a position to debate why and how some have been granted accreditation and others not, neither will we discuss how criteria have been applied in specific instances.'