BCCI backs Australian board stand on photographs

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The Indian board may go the same way as Cricket Australia with regard to match pictures taken by agency photographers. The BCCI's stance comes in the wake of global agencies boycotting the recent Brisbane Test between Australia and Sri Lanka.

Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse boycotted last week's first Test after CA demanded payment for the right to distribute photographs from the event.

"The BCCI may go the same route as Cricket Australia with regard to agencies clicking match pictures," Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told Cricinfo. "The agencies are making money by selling their photographs to newspapers. So they should pay the board also. This is only for match pictures and not for anything else."

The agencies' argument, that the issue of payment goes against the basic principle of news coverage, didn't seem to convince Shah. "We have given television rights to Nimbus. They make money out of the telecast of matches and pay us a certain amount. Cricket Australia are applying the same to photographers. There is no problem if newspapers send their own photographers. It's only agencies that are the focus."

The issue may also crop up during India's tour to Australia later this year. Over the last year or so Indian newspapers have relied on agencies to provide them with photographs on India's foreign tours. "What can we do about that?" Shah retorted. "Let newspapers send their photographers now that the issue has come up."

However, he said he did not expect the Australian board to ask Indian newspapers for payment when they travel for the series. "About agencies, I don't know."