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November 3, 2011

NS: Olympics press pass allocation ‘disgraceful”

By Andrew Pugh

The Newspaper Society is continuing to push for more press passes to be handed to the local press for the London Olympics after describing the current allocation as ‘disgraceful”.

Only a handful of the UK’s 1,200 regional titles have been allowed press passes for next year’s event including just one weekly newspaper in London.

The NS described the situation as ‘woefully inadequate”, adding: ‘We are determined that local communities should not be left without the possibility of their local athlete’s story being reported by their local paper”.

In September Press Gazette reported on how newspapers outside London had also been refused press passes to cover events on their patch.

These include the Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Royal Borough Observer and the Slough and South Bucks Observer, none of whom have been granted accreditation to cover the canoeing and rowing events being held near Windsor.

The NS said: ‘For a local newspaper to be unable to report at first hand a once-in-a-lifetime sporting event taking place in its own locality would be a disgraceful outcome.”

The Society said IT is hosting a meeting later this month with the British Olympics Association and regional newspapers to discuss arrangements for creating for a pool of accredited regional journalists.

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