IPL faces total media blackout

With just a week to go before the Indian Premier League kicks off, the event faces the possibility of a media blackout. On Friday, Press Trust of India announced its decision to boycott IPL unless the restrictive clauses on media that form part of the accreditation guidelines were changed. International news agencies too have decided not to cover the tournament under these conditions and with newspaper organizations continuing to oppose several proposals in the guidelines, the possibility of a boycott has become more real.

IPL had on Wednesday made some modifications in the guidelines it initially formulated, but the changes have done little to allay the concerns of the media. One of the major areas of concern is the fact that IPL effectively denies the media’s intellectual property rights (IPR) on photographs they shoot of the event. Syndication of such photos is not allowed and even use of photographs for a newspaper’s website is restricted to no more than six per match.

Stipulations that images must be carried without any changes from the original have also been viewed by several media groups and organizations as placing undue restrictions on media freedom.