(The Beijing Olympic Stadium)

The needs and wants of media outlets at major events such as tennis Grand Slams, golfing majors, the Commonwealth Games, Olympics and alike are varied, ranging from over-the-top to basic. Catering for over a thousand media is not easy at any event, especially those where there is no permanent set up or facilities. During the US PGA golf tournament each year, which moves from city to city, the media work from a massive marquee which generally copes well...except when tornadoes, or the remnants of them hit and that I can tell you has happened. Generally all media require is some work space, a good mobile phone reception, fast internet,  interview facilities, access to athletes for interviews, up-to-date information and the odd refreshments. Anything else is just a bonus.

 

All of the above should be simple enough at major events? Right? Well, it's not always the case. So often the internet breaks down, mobile reception can be terrible and the access to athletes very spasmodic. At some of the events this writer has been in there has also been toilets flooding, power cuts, mass food poisoning, punch ups between journalists and journalists versus security

Sitting down in a media centre at a major event and seeing some of the biggest names in sports broadcasting from around the world can be a little daunting. They can be from big networks such as CNN, BBC, ABC and every other letter of the alphabet as well as newspapers such as the New York Times, the Telegraph in England and so forth.

The one thing which should be remembered is that all of the media working for name outlets all had to start somewhere and all make mistakes. Just because someone works for a British newspaper doesn't mean they are a good writer or that they aren't lazy.

Excessive security at big events is always a bugbear for media. Being checked at one entrance and not at another and then being questioned about what a tape recorder is and how it works can be frustrating. But there are some security you don't mess with.

At the US Open tennis there's the security who are glorified ushers and aren't very well trained. Then there's the NYPD who are just happy to be at the tennis and not chasing criminals.  There's also the serious guys. The SWAT team who take care of special events and are dressed mean and keen, plus there's also their rivals the Tactical Unit too. And these guys are also serious. An offshoot is the snipers who are stationed on the roof of the tennis centre. However they have a sense of humour. When asked if journos would notice if they decided to take someone down in the crowd. Their response was "only if we want you to notice, but we don't take requests".

Traveling in the elevators with the snipers can be a little intimidating but it can be nice to know they are around. If you are media at a major US event be prepared that you will have an FBI check done on you. Also air checks are done for anthrax at golfing majors and tennis Grand Slams just to make sure no chemical weapons are breathed into your system.

 

Technically wise the media generally have interviews piped directly to their desks so they can be on deadline and still file stories. At tennis and golf events a transcript is provided of all interviews, which can make things very easy. 

 

Generally the stars have to make it to media interviews and there are areas for media to plug in to gain direct feeds or else this goes directly to your desk. Each desk usually has one TV which can pick up the direct commentary and plenty of other TV shows if the sport gets boring. It's not uncommon to see media watching the Simpsons or some tame European show which features porn instead.

During Commonwealth and Olympic Games there is rights-holders and non-rights-holders issues for media. If your company has paid the mega bucks to hold the rights to broadcast the radio or TV of the Games then is all laid out and available for you interview wise. If not then be prepared to wait and do your interviews outside. If you're newspaper, then don't worry you're let off all rights issues.

 While it can be exciting being at a major world event as media and great for the ego it's not perfect and certainly not as glamorous as the public think.

There is actually some work which goes on and not just free food and drink being consumed, although that does happen.

Generally the media are the last to leave an event and have had occasions when the lights have been turned off on them and scaling a wall or a fence to leave a locked in arena gets a little scary as does the thought that security might think you're a terrorist and shoot you.

 Needless to say it's better than having a real job.