International news agencies including Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press decided to boycott the Test series being played between India and England, as a protest against the restrictions imposed by the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) on some photo agencies covering the tour. The Press Association, national agency in the United Kingdom, will not also supply photographs, according to a release issued by the News Media Coalition (NMC).
"In addition to Getty Images, Action Images and two Indian photo agencies being barred, international news agencies have decided against providing pictorial or text coverage of the tour," the NMC, a coalition of international and domestic media organisations, have said.
Analysing the impact of this boycott posed by photo agencies and its effects on various digital media properties, India Digital Review found out the absence of related pictures of the day in almost each and every renowned cricketing property.
ESPNCricInfo.com:
ESPN’s flagship cricketing property ESPNCricInfo.com does a detailed analysis and ball-by-ball commentary of each and every international match that is being played in the world. Along with the commentary and analysis, the website posts pictures of the day which are mainly sourced from such agencies. Hence, the website's gallery today had no images from India England Day 1 match.
For the India England test, the website did do a ball-by-ball analysis and commentary but surprisingly had no pictures to be posted. To be noted here is that the other test match played between Bangladesh and West Indies, covered on the same day has ample photographs. The picture section is devoid of any such photographs related to the India England Test.
Yahoo Cricket:
Yahoo Cricket, which is a global partner of ICC events till 2012, is also no different in facing the impact of this ban. Though website has covered the day’s play extensively with live scores and analysis, it just has two pictures of Chateshwar Pujara and Virender Sehwag on an article. Even the picture section is also devoid of any kind of pictures related to the India England Test Series.
CricBuzz.com:
Another website that has a cover picture of Virender Sehwag on its lead article, but has no mention of the Day’s Images in its ‘Photo Gallery’ Section.
CricketNext.com:
CricketNext.com, the flagship cricket property of Network 18 Group has two extensive reports on the day’s play and on how Sehwag is the best opening batsman of India, but the Photo Galley section doesn’t have a mention of the India England Test Series.
Apart from cricket websites, other generic news websites also had a similar story as they typically rely on photo agencies for the day’s pictures. This ban resulting from the restrictions put into place by BCCI is not only impacting online coverage of the Test Series, but also letting websites loose on potential advertising inventory.
Besides hitting the media and the sponsors alike, considering that the match is being played in working weekdays, the lock-out of photographic agencies by the BCCI is also resulting in cricket fans worldwide having sight of far fewer images taken by press photographers.
