In yet another setback, International news agencies may be forced to skip the million dollar cricket tournament IPL -2010 if the accreditation norms, which govern journalist and photographer attendance are not changed.

“Without changes international news agencies are bound to consider not attending this year’s event to provide editorial coverage. Newspapers in India and abroad are also known to be reconsidering their plans for coverage based on these arrangements,” – News Media Coalitio.

“As many publishers the world over rely upon news agencies for news material the stance taken by the IPL can only serve to limit news and free promotional value of their event and brand. The NMC reached a compromise agreement with the IPL for last year’s tournament and assisted in fostering productive relations between the IPL promoters and the news media. If media organisations feel forced not to attend this year it would set back the positive goodwill and relationship which characterised the event last year,” NMC added.

“We urge the IPL executive to engage in meaningful discussions to identify a solution in this area of press freedom concern. News organizations want the IPL to remove aspects of the terms and conditions of journalist attendance which seek to define news platforms that are acceptable to the IPL in terms of their ownership and/or the scope of their business operations. Other concerns relate to the imposition of updating quotas, which also need reconsideration,” it added.