Asia has been given a total of 1,099 press accreditation quotas for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a huge increase from 662 at the previous Games in Athens, an International Olympic Committee official said.

 

"Attention was given to each NOC's geographic proximity to Beijing, resulting in an increase of 60 percent in Asian quotas following two Games in Europe," IOC senior media operations manager Anthony Edgar told Xinhua News Agency.

 

The overall press quota for the Beijing Games has been set at 5,600, the same as for Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

 

Besides Asia, Oceania and Africa also have larger number of press accreditation for the 2008 Games. Despite a decrease of 153 quotas, Europe still has the largest allocation of 1,960, while Americas see their quotas decline from 795 in Athens to 765.

 

"The accreditation quotas for each individual NOC were determined in accordance with the IOC Technical Manual on Media by an IOC Press Commission working group," said Edgar, head of the working group. "The allocation process was fair, equitable and conducted without bias."

 

In addition to the 500 quotas of E category accreditations the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) has received, an Ex and EPx category will also be allocated for the local press in the co-host cities of Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang or Qinhuangdao (football), Qingdao (sailing) and Hong Kong (equestrian).

 

"These Ex and EPx accreditations will be an exclusive own sport venue access and will not offer access to any venue, including the MPC, in Beijing," said Edgar.

 

"These will be allocated next year," he added.

 

The two-stage accreditation process, involving the Press by Number process followed by the Press by Name process, will start on March 1, 2007, when the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Games (BOCOG) distributes the Press by Number forms to all NOCs, the IOC said in a statement.

 

The Press by Name process will start in November 2007 when each press organization must identify their individual team members and notify the NOC no later than February 2008.

 

"Any questions on the accreditation process by press organization should be directed to their local National Olympic Committee, as it is the NOC's sole responsibility to allocate the quota within their territory," Edgar noted.

 

"By March 1, 2007, each NOC will have allocated its press quota to the main media organizations," he said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2006)