Many photographers are expected to spurn the £100 fee and join spectators for their Notting Hill Carnival press shots
Conditions of this year’s controversial media accreditation form state that, in exchange for a £100 pass, the recipient must agree to share their coverage of the event.
Many press photographers are expected to mingle with crowds to capture the shots they need at the Notting Hill Carnival, billed as ‘Britain’s Biggest Street Party’.
Roger Tooth, head of Photography at The Guardian newspaper, told Amateur Photographer (AP): ‘We are not buying a pass – we will be working from the streets and possibly a float.’
He added: ‘I don’t like the idea of buying a pass to cover a news event.’
Andrew Moger, executive director of the News Media Coalition (NMC) last week urged organisers to ‘rethink’ the rules.
The NMC’s members include the Press Association, News International, Associated Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Getty Images.
Asked whether news outlets will be covering the event from official press areas in light of the £100 fee, Moger told AP: ‘I don’t believe news organisations which I represent will be doing so.’
Last week, John Toner, freelance organiser at the National Union of Journalists, blasted the move as ‘unacceptable’.
As part of the accreditation, media are encouraged to enter their work into a competition for the chance to win a trophy and have their images used to promote next year’s Notting Hill Carnival.
The London Notting Hill Carnival Enterprises Trust, which is organising the 30-31 August event, has not yet responded to repeated requests for comment lodged by Amateur Photographer over the past week.
The NMC is an international body focusing on the ‘specific threat to legitimate editorial, press and publishing freedoms from the controls placed on news-gathering and news-distribution practices by the organisers of major events of public interest’.
[Photo credit: C Cheesman]
