Press release – On the Journalist-Organizer relationship

Press release – On the Journalist-Organizer relationship

The ACP Board was recently confronted with issues relating to the organizers / journalists relationship which deserve serious consideration by the chess community.

In a rather well-known case which received quite some international resound and was also brought to the ACP’s attention, an Italian journalist was denied accreditation* at an international round robin tournament on the grounds that her previous comments on the event were not to the taste of the organizing committee.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, as the ACP is aware that this same situation arose in other important events as well, some of which under official banners.

The ACP strongly believes that the independence of the press is a value in the chess world as in any civilized democracy. These behaviours are highly detrimental to the reputation of chess world wide and should be avoided by all respectable organizers.

While there is clearly no obligation for an organizer to provide any journalist at all with any special accreditation or condition, it should be clear to all that all journalists should be granted equal access to the same materials as also to the players, in the time slots usually assigned to perform this task. Discriminating on any grounds is unacceptable and intolerable.

The ACP Board therefore, without entering the specifics of any single case, urges both organizers and journalists alike to interpret their relationship in a spirit of fairness and mutual respect, with a view to avoiding similar episodes to occur in the future.

The chess world needs highly respectable journalists and should treat them will all due respect.

ACP Board
10 May 2012

* Please note that accreditation does not imply any covering of costs by the organizers but only shared access to the tournament’s press facilities and to the players.