Verden. Germany – “The Voice of the Equestrian Sport” in Germany, Hans-Heinrich Isenbart, passed away on Christmas day in Hamburg at the age of 88. A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, January 10, 2012, at 1.00 pm in the Niedersachsenhalle in Verden.

Hans-Heinrich was born on February 5, 1923 in Vienna. He studied law and completed the exam for riding instructors. Following the Second World War, he worked as a political and business journalist for the former North West German radio station, then for the local radio and television station, Radio Bremen. He was later responsible for sport event co-ordination for the german television station ARD in Munich. He brought the fascination of horses closer to a wider audience when broadcasting countless equestrian events, always finishing with the quote “and don’t forget the horses”. With his mine of knowledge acquired worldwide, he was a popular advocate of the horse, serving as show announcer, speaker at clinics, meetings and conferences, and as an author and film maker.

Hans-Heinrich Isenbart moderated the Verden auction gala evening shows, inaugurated in 1973, until 1998. He received the Golden Badge of Honour of the Hannoveraner Verband and the Cross of Merit of the Rider’s Town of Verden. The German Equestrian Federation awarded him the Gold German Riders Cross in 1983 and in 1997, he was honoured with the Lower Saxonian Cross of Merit. The German Olympic Equestrian Committee appointed him honorary member in 2001. He also received the “Meteor-Prize” for his outstanding accomplishments in the equestrian sport .

The Press Manual for the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico is now available.

(more…)

When IAEJ member Petra Schlemm takes up her appointment in London this summer as a leading member of the Olympic News Service team, it will be the sixth time that she has accommodated an Olympic Organising Committee.  Petra made her Olympic ‘debut’ in 2000 in Sydney. “I originally applied for a volunteer job ââ?¬â?? my only condition being that it had to be at the Equestrian site,” recalls Petra, who was promptly asked if she would consider a paid job!

Athens and Hong Kong came next.

In Sydney Petra worked with former IAEJ Bureau member Lucia Montanarella for the first time and they later progressed to do more things together ââ?¬â?? WEG 2002 in Jerez  and the European Jumping Championship in San Patrigano 2005. “She took me with her into the Winter Olympic circuit too,” says Petra who worked alongside Lucia in Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010. At the latter Games, Petra managed the Olympic News Service for Alpine Skiing.

“That makes London 2012 my OG Number six,” says Petra, “plus two Asian Games and one Arab Games on the side. Yes, a volunteer job can be a stepping stone!”

The August Update Press Operations e-newsletter is now available in English and French versions.

If you haven’t already signed up to the Press Operations Exchange where you can find out all the operational news for press operations at the Games go to this link to register.

You can also register for the 3rd World Press Briefing that is taking place at the Institute of Education in London 24 ââ?¬â?? 27 October 2011. All the details on the Briefing can be found on the Exchange, if you are a registered user of the Exchange please click here to register for the 3rd World Press Briefing

For those of you who haven’t requested accommodation yet, as long as we have press rooms available, we will continue to allocate them so please do send us your Press Accommodation Request forms that can be found on The Exchange together with a Press Accommodation Guide.

If all you need during the Games is internet access, please contact pressratecard@london2012.com to place an order. To all Rate Card users, please note that you have until 31 December 2011 to place your orders*but you can amend them (or even cancel them) and you won’t be invoiced until January 2012. We strongly recommend that you submit your order without delay so we can provide you with the best possible advice on all your requirements.

*on 1 January 2012 prices on most items will be increased by 25%.

London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd

One Churchill Place

Canary Wharf

London E14 5LN

 

Switchboard: +44 (0) 203 2012 000

london2012.com

From IAEJ Delegate Gabriele Pochhammer

I went to see the venue and the organizing team twice and I think, things are now as good as they can be.

There were some shortcomings at the CCI***, which are by now mostly improved.

1. There will be live-TV and live scoring in the press tent (except for dressage), to the same extent as in the competitors tent.
2. The press tent is very near to the arena (exit) and to the mixed zone, so it might be easier to watch from there, rather than from the press stand.
3. The press stand does not have tables nor electricity.
4. The Wifi will be improved as much as possible, but still it might be difficult if large amounts of pictures are sent at the same time. Media officer Julia Otto said: “I cannot make a Porsche out of a VW, and Telecom wonââ?¬â?¢t give us stronger lines.”
5. There will be no shuttles from hotels to the venue, as there are so many little places (bed and breakfeast) that people stay. For colleagues who have booked the rider hotels, they will be allowed to travel via that shuttle service to the venue.
6. The press chief is new in Luhm�¼hlen, but she worked in England for some time and knows the eventing sport. The media centre support team will be the same as always.
7. All other requirements seem to be ok.

Gabriele Pochhammer

From IAEJ delegate Claartje van Andel

This week I brought a visit to the new build venue of Rotterdam for the EC dressage and the week after that CHIO.

An incredible lot of work has been done! I was very impressed as you might have read on Facebook or twitter. As always now they need all hands to get it ready in time.

However there are 13 days to go now left and I�m sure they will succeed. It looks already fantastic and more than great!

Photographers will have a very special working place at the frontside under the stairs of the grandstand.

Writing press will have their working room at the backside of the new grandstand and office, where in the future 38 horses will be accommodated.

Of course there is wifi all over and there will be no problems with electricity etcetera.

Shuttle services from hotels and parking lots will be provided

Press chief Anita Lussenburg will send an update to all accredited press next week regarding all this questions. She will have schedules of the times and places for the shuttle-services and opening times to send as well.

As The Netherlands until now are not spoilt with a great permanent building like Aachen, this new building will be the first permanent building for a horseshow in the Netherlands. Aachen-director Frank Kemparman already has brought a visit and was impressed.

I hope this actual info will be welcomed by all our members. And as said, accredited press will receive info directly from press chief Anita Lussenburg.

Kind regards,

Claartje

 

stables fitted for pressroom
grandstand floor entrance media annex stables	photographers working room under stairs
photographers entrance of working room next to riders entrance All photos by Claartje van Andel

Dear Members,

The IAEJ has been quite productive and proactive since the beginning of the year. Following up on Mark Wentein’s suggestion made at the General Assembly during the WEG in Kentucky last October, we approached the FEI about free subscriptions to FEI TV for IAEJ members. At a meeting with Grania Willis, director of FEI press relations, in December in London, we brokered the deal which has brought 65 members this service. There are still 35 subscriptions left so if you want access to FEI events via FEI TV contact Chris Stafford immediately as the offer closes on September 1, 2011.

OLYMPIC ACCREDITATIONS

In March, on behalf of members who had not received Olympic accreditation in the first instance from their National Olympic Committees, I wrote to all NOCs and National Federations, in support of their applications. I can’t say if we will have the same problem in Rio 2016, that is, demand far exceeding supply (accreditations across all sports for London are 50% down) but the IAEJ needs to make sure that it maintains good relationships with NOCs and NFs so they will accept our guidance and advice when making critical decisions concerning Olympic accreditations. There is much more work to be done on this front. Thankfully the FEI were given some specialist accreditations to allocate and 35 journalists and photographers who missed out first time around and applied for the FEI waiting list, have since received their accreditation for London. I was not entirely pleased with the level of the FEI’s co-operation in sharing information and although it has not been said outright, it does make me wonder if this is in some way retribution for the IAEJ’s unwillingness to become an Associate Member of the FEI.

LOCOG APPOINTMENTS

Despite several requests to advise on the appointment of a press officer for London 2012, LOCOG ignored us and we were very disappointed to have been left out of the process that we had established for Hong Kong. As I understand it, the IAEJ wasn’t the only authority sidelined as LOCOG chose to take their own course in this respect. This is not meant to demean the appointment of Badminton Horse Trials press officer Julian Seaman, who I am certain will do his best to look after us. I am pleased to report that he will have some strong backing as the very capable, IAEJ member of long standing, Peter Llewellyn has been appointed Photo Manager. His wife Jean, also a long standing member, will lend her expertise to the News Service at the Greenwich Park site.

Greenwich will be a great venue. It’s quite compact and very close to public transportation links. As I understand it if you stay at the media hotels in Russell Square you will have access to a shuttle-service direct to the Park. I have asked LOCOG for a progress report regards accommodation and transportation and I hope to hear back from them once the dust has settled over the test event. The large media center itself is right next to the main arena. We are working with the FEI and LOCOG to establish suitable placement of the press seats and direct routes between media center ââ?¬â?? press seats and mixed zone. I was told there will be golf carts or the like to transport media up and down the (not inconsiderable) hill on cross-country day. As I say above, more on London 2012 to come.

NAJYRC RESTRICTIONS

Photographers attending the NAJYRC this year should thank Chris Stafford for pointing out to us that USEF policy concerning the sale of photographs at this event seemed to be unnecessarily restrictive and prohibitive. This led me to ask the USEF to explain the ambiguous language used in the NAJYRC Media Application Agreement and to consult the FEI on this matter. It turns out that the FEI has nothing in the contract nor in the FEI rules that prevent either the USEF or the Organiser from restricting the accreditation of photographers or the use of the photos taken by them at the Championships. Lisa Lazarus, the FEI’s General Counsel, spoke to Sonja Keating at the USEF and was told that the policy of restricting the sale of photographs (“Any images taken by a credentialed media may only be used in relation to their assignments, and not for further sale”) is standard procedure for all US sporting events.

This policy does not in any way restrict professional photographers from selling their images to media sources. Other photographers can and will be accredited, but they cannot sell the images as posters, sell them on to commercial bodies such as sponsors or advertising agencies, or to consumers such as the general public. Only one official photographer will be allowed to sell their work from the show outside the media. They will not be paying a fee to the show, but will have exclusivity in the marketplace for commercial purposes.

The upshot of the matter is that the FEI Legal department is looking into changing the wording in future contracts to make sure it’s absolutely crystal clear that professional photographers are in no way restricted from selling images taken at any event to media sources.

NO ROOM AT THE AACHEN INN

You may have followed the back and forth on Facebook concerning the lack of seats for media in the dressage arena at Aachen this year. I wrote to the CHIO’s director Frank Kemperman two days after Aachen finished with some constructive criticism on this subject. He replied the same day to say that he welcomed input from stakeholders and the issue would be discussed and a solution found. “Ten years ago we built the Deutsche Bank stadium for dressage and everybody asked us why we were building such a huge stadium. Now everything is too small ! We will find a solution in the interest of the media.”

Now that’s the sort of attitude all organisers should embrace!

Pamela Young

IAEJ President

 

Jan Toenjes, Julia Rau and Kim Kreling

Susanne Hennig and Dieter Ludwig

Tokiko Okubo, Milky Kora and Chikako Okazaki

Jennifer Anstey

The IAEJ Bureau organised an evening reception for members and guests during the World Cup Finals in Leipzig, Germany. Around 50 enjoyed the IAEJ’s hospitality, including our special guests from Rolex, Anthony Schaub and Magli Dubois Vaucher, Rod Kohler and Tim Welland of Revolution Sports and John Roche and Grania Willis from the FEI. IAEJ President Pamela Young thanked Rolex for their generous treatment of equestrian media throughout the years and across the disciplines. Special thanks also to Bureau member Kim Kreling for all her help in organising the event and to Volker Wulff and Partner Pferd for their friendly and efficient co-operation in providing us with a venue. 

(more…)

After receiving several notes of concern from members about the FEI commissioning Getty to provide images from Leipzig the president asked Grania Willis of the FEI to provide an explanation for this development. The following is her response for which we are grateful.   

“From the outset, let me make it clear that the FEI has not entered into a long-term agreement with Getty.

The primary objective of using an international agency to produce images for the FEI from the World Cup Finals in Leipzig was to generate interest in equestrian sports in the mainstream media. The FEI needs to reach out, not just to global equestrian communities, but to those who may be enthused to take up the sport, or at least follow the sport, after seeing images in their media channels. We want to increase the fan base for equestrian sports. Similarly, our sponsors wish to achieve visibility outside the traditional equestrian media and we therefore need to explore ways of providing that visibility.

While we do of course wish to continue using the services of the equestrian photographers, the distribution power of Getty is unmatched. It was for this reason that we chose to use them to do images from Leipzig. This was a unique event showcasing four disciplines, so it was a perfect opportunity to capitalise on spreading the message about equestrian sports to a wider audience, and what better way to do it than through powerful images.

We did what other international sports federations do at flagship events and used an agency that can achieve global uptake through its subscribers. While a very small number of equestrian media outlets subscribe to Getty, the vast majority of Getty subscribers are in the mainstream media ââ?¬â?? the target audience for the Getty images from Leipzig.”