ITV

Tag: Mahindra Rajapaksa

  • News channels lobby to get ICC nod for World Cup coverage

    News channels lobby to get ICC nod for World Cup coverage

    NEW DELHI: Even as television news channels heaved a sigh of relief over the decision of the International Cricket Council to allow coverage of the Cricket World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka in Mumbai tomorrow, it was felt that the cricket body was not justified in threatening legal action against what it termed offending channels.

    ICC President Sharad Pawar had this evening agreed to lift the bar on news coverage of the World Cup bowing to national outrage, but ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said legal action would be considered against offending Indian news channels which have repeatedly breached the News Access Guidelines for Broadcasters for the World Cup.       
     
    It is learnt that Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni’s plea to her cabinet colleague and ICC President Sharad Pawar also played a role in the final decision.

    A news channel executive on condition of anonymity said the tangle on which talks broke down between the ICC on the one hand and the News Broadcasters Association and the Broadcast Editors Association on the other was a very minor issue which was not in the hands of the news channels since the score boards were not put up at the instance of the news channels.

    Earlier, the news channels were allowed to cover the world cup semi-final between India and Pakistan after ICC lifted the ban on accredited journalists from the news channels for a day following intervention by Soni.

    The BEA had said earlier today that the decision of ICC to withdraw the accreditation of journalists covering Cricket World Cup matches is not only against this interest but also in contravention of the rights of the citizens to be informed. “We tried our best to make the ICC understand this but the recalcitrant attitude of the latter rendered our efforts sterile in the past three days,” BEA said.

    Meanwhile, it is learnt that the I&B Ministry feels that the dispute – which centres around display of scoreboards with sponsor logos by the news channels – is a very minor issue and should not hold up coverage of the final tomorrow as both President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa are expected to be present.

    Ministry sources say that the “the ball is in Sharad Pawar’s court” and he has to take a decision.

  • World Cup news imbroglio continues as meeting ends in stalemate

    World Cup news imbroglio continues as meeting ends in stalemate

    NEW DELHI: With International Cricket Council (ICC) and television news channels refusing to budge on their stance over the use of World Cup footage, the impasse seems to continue.

    It is learnt that the meeting held today at the Information and Broadcasting Ministry failed to come up with any fruitful outcome and that here is dispute on the display of scoreboards by the news channels. It is also learnt that another meeting will be held tomorrow to resolve this imbroglio.
            
      Earlier, after the ICC had withdrawn accreditation to all news channels, I&B Minister Ambika Soni had personally written to ICC president Sharad Pawar to permit the coverage of the India-Pakistan semi-final in Mohali as both the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers were going to be present. She had also called for a meeting for today to resolve the tangle.

    Although neither Soni nor Pawar were present, it is learnt that a three-hour meeting held in the presence of senior Ministry officials failed to resolve the tangle, with ICC alleging the news channels of violating the guidelines set up in the earlier agreement with them.

    The final between India and Sri Lanka gains importance as both President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa are expected to be present.