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ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE FOR THE
2008 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

 

1. ACCREDITATION PRINCIPLES

 

2. ACCREDITATION CRITERIA

 

3. PERMANENT ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE

 

4. RALLY-BY-RALLY ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE

 

5. ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND WEBSITES

 

ACCREDITATION PRINCIPLES

 

Editors of publications are asked to conform to the following principles to ensure that media accreditation is restricted to professional journalists and photographers.

 

1. The FIA considers the "Media" pass to be a working tool to be used only by bona fide members of the press.  Publishers, marketing personnel, sub-editors, staff of the publication's secretariat, etc. cannot be accredited as Media.

 

2. The FIA only accredits publications:

 

a) with a minimum circulation whose size and quality fulfil the criteria of the FIA;

 

b) with a format and quality which fulfil the criteria of the FIA;

 

c) which are on sale to the public.

 

Internal magazines of companies, trade magazines and newsletters cannot normally be accredited as media. However, at the sole discretion of the FIA, and where the quality and circulation criteria justify their consideration, such magazines may be eligible for accreditation on a case by case basis.

 

3. TV and radio, websites and other electronic media must send their application to:

 

ISC Accreditation Service
46 – 52 Pentonville Road
London, N1 9HF, Great Britain
Tel (44) 20 3031 3503 / Fax (44) 20 7278 3753

 

4. Under no circumstances will advertising, public relations agencies or similar companies and organisations be accredited as media, nor will the Organisers issue any accreditation to representatives (press officers or otherwise) of sponsors, suppliers, engine suppliers, teams, drivers, etc.

 

5. The FIA WRC Media Delegate may accept requests from teams with seeded drivers for the accreditation of press personnel, with a maximum of one person per team.

 

6. The FIA will only accredit press from outside the country in which the event is held.  National press must apply to the National Press Officer (e.g. German press applying for the Rally Deutschland should apply to the National Press Officer, while press from countries other than Germany should apply to the FIA).

 

7. FIA Permanent Credential Holders requesting a Substitute and/or an Additional Pass, must apply to the FIA.

 

8. The central and local offices of the major international press agencies (AP, AFP, Reuters, ANSA, UPI, DPA, LUSA, BELGA, JIJI, KYODO, EFE, Press Association, SAPA, Australian AP, APA, etc.) will always be accredited by the FIA.

ACCREDITATION CRITERIA

 

The FIA will allocate annual permanent Media accreditation to publications intending to publish reports for every FIA World Rally Championship event during the season.

 

Press passes can also be allocated on a rally-by-rally basis to general news, specialist, business and lifestyle consumer publications that do not intend to publish conventional rally reports but whose coverage is considered to be of promotional benefit to the sport.

 

Usually, a maximum of three representatives (journalists and/or photographers) per publication may be accredited for any one round of the FIA World Rally Championship.  Agencies are subject to the same requirements as publications.

 

All applicants must fulfil the following basic criteria:

 

Coverage

 

For a daily newspaper, a substantial amount of coverage for each event is required.  For example, an introductory article in the Thursday edition, follow-up articles in Friday, Saturday and, where applicable, Sunday editions, plus a rally report in the Monday edition.

 

For a weekly or monthly publication, a substantial amount of coverage for each event is required and a major portion of the overall content should be on the subject of WRC.

 

Quality

 

The highest standards of fairness and accuracy are expected as a minimum quality requirement from the press.

 

Circulation

 

Accreditation decisions are based on the relative ‘media market’ in the country of the applicant.  As such, the usual minimum circulation for a national weekly or monthly publication is 20,000 copies.  For a national daily the minimum circulation is 50,000 copies.

 

Publications must be on sale to the general public via retail outlets (trade or internal company magazines will not be accredited).

 

Freelance journalists must apply for credentials via their own agencies.  The onus is on the freelance applicant to prove the supply of regular stories to at least five publications.

 

Photo agencies must be able to prove that the pictures have been regularly sold to publications matching the FIA criteria and have been paid for at the normal commercial rate.  A publication must be able to prove that the pictures published are the original work of the publication's accredited photographer.

PERMANENT ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE

 

An FIA WRC permanent press pass will provide access to every FIA WRC event during the given FIA World Rally Championship season.  To qualify for an FIA WRC permanent press or photographer’s credential applicants must submit sample proofs of coverage to the FIA Press Council by the appropriate deadline.

 

The FIA Press Council meets annually to review applications.

 

To qualify for a permanent journalist’s or photographer’s pass, the applicant must have attended at least 11 events during the previous year’s Championship.

 

Additionally, to qualify for a permanent photographer’s pass, at least 240 photographs, per pass issued, must have been published in the press during the previous year’s Championship.

 

The FIA Press Council is made up of leading international motor sport correspondents, representatives of motor sport photographers and FIA Press Delegates from the key FIA Championships (Formula One, WRC, WTCC, GT and the Photographers’ Delegate).  The Press Council is chaired by the FIA Director of Communications.

RALLY-BY-RALLY ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE

 

For rally-by-rally passes, the FIA will only accredit press from outside the country in which the event is held.  National publications must apply via the event’s national press office.  National publications which are accredited on a permanent basis and wish to apply for additional or substitute passes must apply directly to the FIA.

 

Applicants must submit sample proofs of coverage to the FIA External Relations Department at the latest three weeks prior to the first day of the event (see deadlines listed below).

 

Publications or agencies applying for a rally-by-rally photographer accreditation must supply evidence of independent coverage of a minimum of 15 pictures per pass issued at each event they have been accredited for in the previous year’s Championship.  The number of international press photographer passes will usually not exceed 30 at each event.

 

The number of national "press photographer" passes will not exceed 12 at each event.

Promotional photographers for teams, sponsors, etc. who do not comply with the above criteria may apply for accreditation to ISC (address below).

 

Accreditation decisions are made by the FIA WRC Media Delegate and Photographers’ Delegate according to the following procedures:

 

1. Applications must be received at least three weeks (see deadlines below) prior to the first day of the relevant event and should be sent by registered post to the following address:

 

FIA External Relations Department
Accreditation Unit (WRC)
8, Place de la Concorde
75008 Paris
France

 

2. Applications which are late, incomplete, or sent by fax may not be considered.

 

3.  Requests must be sent with the accreditation form and a formal application letter written on the publication's letterhead.  This letter must be signed by the editor or a senior member of the editorial staff.  Requests signed by clerical staff will not be accepted.

 

This letter must include:

 

a) the name(s) of the representative(s) who will be covering the event(s);

 

b) the photocopy of the official national press card(s) (where applicable) of the representative(s) who will be covering the event(s);

 

c) the job title(s) of the representative(s) (journalist(s) and/or photographer(s);

 

d) information on the publication (such as circulation, readership, frequency, etc);

 

e) an original copy of the publication;

 

f) photocopies or originals of material published following previous FIA World Rally Championship events;

 

g) a contact fax number;

 

h) a formal undertaking from the editor to publish a report related to the event concerned and an indication as to when this report will be published;

 

i) an identity photo in electronic format (*jpeg or *tif) of the representative must be sent to the Accreditation Unit (WRC) to the following email address:

 

sgomez@fiacommunications.com

 

Important: The subject must be filled in as follows: Name of the Rally – Name of the Publication – Name of the Representative

 

Note:  'd', 'e' and 'h' do not apply to the major international press agencies.

 

4.  The FIA will fax or email the result of the application to the publication.  If successful, an agreement will be included for signature by the editor of the publication.

 

If the representative(s) is (are) unable to attend the event, the FIA External Relations Department must be notified as early as possible before the opening of the accreditation centre.

 

If a change of representative(s) is to be made, please notify the FIA External Relations Department as early as possible.

 

5.  The representative(s) must produce the signed agreement which is sent with the confirmation and an ID card/passport when collecting the credential at the event.  NO ACCREDITATION CAN BE COLLECTED WITHOUT THIS DOCUMENT.

 

6. The application for a press pass must include written confirmation that the publication/agency or the journalist/photographer to whom the credential has been allocated has not applied or will not apply for additional FIA passes for any other purposes, including journalism for Television and Radio networks.

 

Deadlines

 

The deadline for applications is usually three weeks prior to the first day of the relevant event, unless otherwise stated (please see below).  Late requests may not be examined.

 

Name of the Rally   Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo Uddeholm Swedish Rally Rally Mexico Rally Argentina Jordan Rally Rallye d’Italia Sardegna BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of Greece Rally of Turkey Neste Oil Rally Finland ADAC Rallye Deutschland Rally New Zealand Rallye de España Rallye de France - Tour de Corse Rally Japan Wales Rally GB

National deadlines   Wed. 26 December Wed. 9 January Wed. 30 January Wed. 27 February Wed. 26 March Wed. 16 April Wed. 30 April   Wed. 14 May Wed. 2 July Wed. 16 July Wed. 30 July Wed. 3 September Wed. 10 September Wed. 24 September Wed. 29 October

International deadlines   Wed. 02 January Wed. 16 January Wed. 06 February Wed. 05 March Wed. 02 April Wed. 23 April Wed. 07 May   Wed. 21 May Wed. 09 July Wed. 23 July Wed. 06 August Wed. 10 September Wed. 17 September Wed. 1 October Wed. 5 November

If a decision is disputed an individual application will be referred to the Director of Communications for final approval.

 

The FIA liaises closely with National Press Offices and National Sporting Authorities to confirm the validity of a given application.

 

Priority is given to publications intending to publish a report related to the event for which the accreditation is requested.

 

ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND WEBSITES

All applications from web sites and other electronic media should be directed to ISC, as with television, radio and promotional photographer applications.

ISC Accreditation Service
46 – 52 Pentonville Road
London, N1 9HF, Great Britain
Tel (44) 20 3031 3503 / Fax (44) 20 7278 3753