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Major steps have been taken to resolve the disagreement involving journalists and the Jamaica
Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) during a meeting involving representative of the
Press Association of Jamaica, the Media Association of Jamaica and the athletic body.
The issue arose out of the JAAA’s decision to charge media houses an accreditation processing
fee for covering the event, restricting the number of journalists who should be accredited and
a request for photographers to hand over copies of all pictures taken at the meet.
Coming out of today’s meeting; the JAAA has agreed to review the request for accreditation
processing fee and will continue dialogue with the media to arrive at a mutually beneficially
agreement.
The JAAA will also actively seek to put in place an additional area at the national stadium to
accommodate members of the media to better allow them to serve the public.
While some concerns still surround the issue of the number of journalists who will be
accredited from each media house, it was generally accepted that two reporters and a
photographer will be allowed for each print media. For electronic entities, one reporter per
media house will be accommodated, as consideration has to be made for entitlements
associated with purchased rights to live broadcast of the event
On the matter of the request for photographers to hand over their work, it was made clear that
copyright and other legal considerations would prohibit such a move, hence the meeting
agreed that further discussion would need to take place with the media entities so that this
matter can be resolved.
The PAJ has also agreed to have consultations with journalists covering the meet to ensure that
they adhere to the protocol put in place by the JAAA.
The JAAA’s and the media representatives agreed that future consultations will be held on a
regular basis in order to best address issues.
Kind regards,
Jenni Campbell
President