SJFI members quit Commonwealth Games media accreditation panel
By IANSMonday, July 12, 2010
NEW DELHI - The four Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI) members on the Commonwealth Games media accreditation sub-committee resigned Monday, protesting against the “arbitrary” procedures in the functioning of the panel.
S. Sabanayakan (SJFI president), Harpal Singh Bedi (UNI), S. Kannan (Mail Today) and K.P. Mohan (The Hindu) submitted their resignations to sub-committee chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Tarlochan Singh.
They raised questions in the manner in which accreditations have been granted to more than 300 organisations even before getting the approval of the committee.
The members requested the committee chairman to convene a meeting as the OC set in motion the accreditation process without intimation to the committee members and giving only a 14-day period to organisations to meet its deadlines, but the OC press operations indefinitely postponed the meeting scheduled for Monday.
“The SJFI was indeed keen to ensure that the print media’s interest is safeguarded. The SJFI’s principal aim is to ensure better working condition for professional sports journalists. And that begins with accreditation process,” Sabanayakan wrote in his
e-mail to the chairman of the committee.
G. Viswanath, secretary, SJFI said in a statement: “The OC, without waiting for any decision of the panel, apparently granted accreditations to several organisations even as it stalled the convening of a meeting of the committee.”
Supporting the SJFI stand, Editors Guild of India president Rajdeep Sardesai and secretary general Coomi Kapoor, said in a joint statement: “We hope that the organizing committee of the Commonwealth Games will look into concerns of the sports journalists and make necessary changes.”
