Media Accreditation - what could be more simple?

The mark of a civilized event!

I was recently asked what it takes to gain accreditation for horse events in the UK and the honest answer is, apart from hard work, who you are, who you represent and possibly some good contacts, I don't know! It is achievable, but things are changing and you have to expect some disappointments; below I have captured my experiences to date.

First of all let me say as an amateur I am mindful of keeping out of the way of the professionals, so I don't mind being shouted out and told to "get out the way of the Spillers banner" by Kevin Sparrow! I probably draw the line at being moaned at because my red Musto was too bright to be in the background of some of the photos at the Grassroots, but hopefully my new BE Branded Toggi coat will address that!

My first real experience with accreditation came when I was given a press pass for Cheltenham Countryside Day in order to video the RDA Musical Ride; I have to admit it felt good: recognised. After that in 2014 the NAF Hartpury International Horse Trials suggested that I gain accreditation so that we could work together; which I think meant they could "control" what I put out and I would benefit in terms of views from the wider reach of their social media outlets. I had a great four days at Hartpury as a result, benefited immensely from their superbly run press office in terms of sustenance (i.e. coffee), results lists and running orders and access to quieter places to video from; I even got to see Libbie Law. Hartpury is basically in my back yard so I always went home to use my PC but there were IT facilities available in the press room if you wanted to use them. So all in all a good experience that left me wanting it again.

Obviously another advantage of accreditation is a car pass to get into the venue. This isn't such an advantage for most events where I can get in on my BE Membership and the events are reasonably compact but for the larger events a forward car park is a definite bonus. I've never tried taking the Discovery on the course, as many photographers seem to do, but I imagine that would be a benefit as well. So my next experience with accreditation was with events at a distance where I thought if nothing else having a car pass would offset the expenses of my day. This was not particularly successful as I got stuck in the no accreditation without insurance loop which took me a little while to resolve.

So Liability insurance; some events insist you have it, others really don't seem to care. I honestly believe it is used in some instances to keep the "media" to a reasonable level (both in terms of professionalism and actual numbers) and in other cases organisers are simply trying to protect themselves. For my part I realised that, with or without accreditation, mixing with the general public, who had their attention fixed on the action and not on me and my tripod, was ultimately going to be fraught with risk so I took steps to ensure that I was adequately covered. Thank you NFU Mutual!

That was more or less how I finished 2014 and I went into 2015 thinking it would be much the same, and it was until the Tuesday after I'd videoed at a popular Gloucestershire venue. Now I'm no expert but I had a pretty good idea when I got a Tweet which read something along the lines of "we need to talk urgently" that it was unlikely to be good news. "Is there a problem?" I messaged back "There could be for you" was the reply!! So imagining the worst I sent the party involved my mobile number and as I drove home received a call which informed me, basically, that BE own the video rights for all BE events, that the organisers are charged with protecting these rights and that they were surprised that no one had told me about this. Well actually I was a bit surprised as well because I had read a lot of small print when I entered the Eventing Cinema competition and really couldn't remember that one!

I did what any of us would do in this situation; I grovelled, apologised profusely, offered to submit a post dated application (they didn't want that), apologised again, explained I was simply a well meaning amateur and basically did whatever I had to terminate the call and continue my journey home (which in the end came down to saying "Bye; I'm going now"). I then checked with BE who advised me that although the specific clause didn't really apply to me it was probably best to advise organisers in advance, of my intention to video and publish on YouTube, as a courtesy and that has been my modus operandi ever since.

A slight interjection here to mention BD. Once again this comes down to using their social media audience to get me views in return for some HQ video. So for the 2015 Winter Championships I bit the bullet and simply applied for accreditation which I am delighted to say BD accepted. I played my part by furnishing them with some quality video of a number of tests which I'd like to think complemented the video provided over the live stream by GoldenEye. 

So back to Eventing. As I say I now write to organisers and tell them I intend to visit, video and place content on You Tube and ask them to say if they're OK with that. I don't ask for accreditation but so far a couple have just said come along, one said come along and sent me a press pass and asked me to sign in and one insisted that I needed to be accredited and insured to do what I was asking to do (although none of the paperwork I've signed has said anything about video copyright). Anyway it's their game and I have to play by whatever rules they throw at me. I can't say I've seen a consistent story but neither has anything been insurmountable - well except for Badminton!

Badminton WROTE TO ME, which was recognition in a way, but as soon as I saw who the e-mail was from I thought once again it was unlikely to be totally good news. The basic message was very good material but we're protective of our Broadcast Rights, we don't care what you do at other events but OUR rights have value, so unless there is a compelling reason for you to broadcast what you video then you won't get a license. Once again it was grovel and be polite and get the best I could out of the situation which was the Grassroots on Tuesday and Wednesday and possibly a review of the International Course. As it transpired the course review was not allowed. Now there's some irony here because my review of the 2014 was submitted for the Eventing Cinema competition and is still proudly displayed on the BE YouTube channel but hey ho that's life and I wasn't in a position to argue.

I've got mixed emotions on this; if you carry out a YouTube search on "Badminton 2014" you get approx 25k hits and if you carry out a YouTube search on "Badminton 2015" in a couple of weeks time I'm sure you'll get approx 25k hits! Of course I'll miss the 30k views a Badminton video would have given me but I don't for a minute think that they will sell an additional 30k DVDs as a result of me not being there. But obviously another video will get a few more views, an advertiser will be content that their market has been reached and that the money they've invested was worthwhile (but who takes any notice of advertisements on YouTube?)

Utopia? Badminton 2015 photographers briefing
Photo credit: Libby Law Photography on Facebook

So that's my experience to date; not a wholly consistent picture but evidence that people are beginning to appreciate the value of video and are taking steps to realise its potential even if they don't really understand how to do that yet. It is currently possible to gain accreditation at the medium sized events and some of them will insist that you're insured. At all times be courteous and "professional" and most importantly tell people what you intend to do before the event so that if they aren't happy they get chance to say no.