“Pressball” deprived of accreditation at Olympic Games 2008
- 29.02.2008, 11:40
The executive board of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus has deprived “Pressball” newspaper an accreditation at Olympic Games 2008 today. The Olympic Games will take place in the capital of China, Beijing, on August 8-24.
Alexei Miroshnichenko, the head of the NOC Commission on mass media, addressed the NOC Executive Board and stated that the newspaper “started to publish articles hurting feelings of Olympic champions and undermining the business reputation of the NOC”. As said by him, the last straw was an article of Svyatlana Paramyhina “Olympic dump. Billion which hasn’t been studied” in the newspaper of December 21, 2007. As said by Alexei Miroshnichenko, after this article many Olympic champions and medal winners (Elena Byalova, Dzmitry Dauhalyonak, Ihar Astapkovich and others) applied to defend the honour and dignity of the NOC. A commission was created to examine the situation. Its members wrote and sent a letter to the Information Ministry, and decided to raise the question of advisability of “Pressball” correspondents’ accreditation at the Olympic Games in Beijing during a session of the NOC executive board.
According the NOC Belarus First Vice-President Gennady Alekseenko, many articles of “Pressball” are biased, and are “in no way aimed at promotion of Olympic ideals”. “We cannot close this newspaper, but we have a right to express out attitude,” Gennady Alekseenko said.
Members of the NOC by unanimous vote supported withdrawing the Olympic accreditation from the “Pressball”, which is the sports newspaper which possesses the largest circulation in the country. The vacant positions of a correspondent and a press photographer were given to “Narodnaya gazeta” (a journalist) and “Respublika” (a press photographer).
As we have informed before, 10 Olympic accreditations had been given to printed media of Belarus (6 to journalists and 4 to press photographers). Newspapers “Sportivnaya Panorama”. “Sovetskaya Belorussia”, “Respublika”, “Zvyazda”, “Narodnaya Gazeta” and the BELTA agency will send one reporter each. “Sportivnaya Panorama”, “Sovetskaya Belorussia”, “Respublika” and the BELTA are to send one press photographer each.