CO
Culture @ the Olympics
issues, trends and perspectives
Non-accredited media, Olympic Games
and the host city
The British Academy 2004 project
Beatriz García and Andy Miah
This project has assessed
the utility of non-accredited
media centres as a platform
for securing appropriate
media reporting of local
cultures during the
Olympic Games. The
research conducted in
Athens during the 2004
Summer Olympic Games
built on the findings of
earlier work at the Sydney
2000 and Salt Lake City
2002 Olympics.
Background and Context
Since their inauguration in 1896,
the Modern Olympic Games have
been researched through various
academic traditions. With the
formalisation of cognate research
areas such as media, cultural
studies, and sport and leisure
studies in the 1970s, social
research into the Olympics has
developed steadily. The Games
have been considered by
anthropologists and sociologists
as a rich source from which to
Culture @ the Olympics, 2004: vol. 1, issue 1, pp. 1-7
www.culturalolympics.org.uk
study the playing out of national
identities and cultural politics.
Often referred to as the biggest
event in the world, the Olympic
Games have become a site for
important political statements,
such as the time in Mexico (1968)
when athletes Tommie Smith and
John Carlos protested the
treatment of black Americans by
raising black-gloved hands on
their medal podium.
In recent years, research has
focused on social and economic
impacts and the role of the media
in transforming the Games into a
globally shared experience. This
research demonstrates that media
coverage of the Games plays a
vital role in projecting an image
of the local host, but that the
current structures of Games
organisers and media providers
undermine the representation of
culturally diverse voices. By
focusing on reporting the
sporting competitions and official
ceremonies, the media fails to
reflect the particularities of each
Olympic festival. As such, the
cultural context of the Games,
including street activity and other

cultural programming, is often
lost or misrepresented.
This trend could change with the
development of alternative media
provisions, a phenomenon that
has evolved since the creation of
the first official ‘non-accredited
media centre’ (NAMC) at the
Sydney 2000 Games. The NAMC
is distinct from the accredited
media centres, which are
reserved only for the official
media right-holders under
exclusive national arrangements.
The main function of accredited
centres is to provide facilities and
information for the reporting of
sporting competitions. In
contrast, the NAMCs are open to
any media representative
(including freelance journalists)
and offer a significant amount of
material on human-interest
stories, local activity groups, and
the Olympic cultural programme.
As a recent phenomenon, no
research has yet been conducted
on the role and potential of the
NAMC. This project intends to
assess the utility of the NAMC as
a platform for securing
appropriate media reporting of
local cultures during Games time.
Pilot work conducted by Dr.
Garcia and Dr. Miah at the
Sydney and Salt Lake City
Olympics suggests that a broad
range of media utilise the
NAMCs, but that the political
positioning of these centres
remains unclear.
García and Miah, 2004: British Academy project
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Looking towards the future, this
work can be useful for the broad
social study of events, but also,
more specifically, for the city to
host the Olympic Games in 2012.
London is currently one of the
candidate cities. Since the London
bid must be submitted in
November 2004, the Athens
Olympics offers a unique
moment to study the role of the
NAMC, which can provide
additional, valuable information
for the bid strategy. By
researching the NAMCs, it is
possible to further understand
how an Olympic bid can better
promote Olympic values, such as
cultural diversity.
Objectives
The main objectives of the project
were to:
1. Understand the operational
structure and function of the
NAMC in contrast to the
accredited Olympic media
centres, managed by the
organising committee of the
Games under IOC regulations.
2. Identify needs of local cultural
groups to secure appropriate
media representation during
Games time.
3. Understand how journalists
and local promoters make
sense of the NAMC and how
they could utilise it better.
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Methodology
The project methodologies were
fundamentally qualitative,
consisting of the following,
- 24 structured and semi-
structured interviews with
key NAMC stakeholders,
registered journalists and
representatives from local
cultural organisations
presenting their work during
the Games;
- review and analysis of
relevant documentation about
the NAMC and cultural
programming during the
Games;
- participant observations at the
NAMC and selected cultural
activities in Athens and key
Olympic venues.
In addressing Objective 1, we
conducted four structured
interviews with key NAMC
stake-holders, including the
Hellenic Ministry of Information
and the Ministry of Tourism. We
also conducted a review and
analysis of key documents
offering information about the
number and nature of
organisations represented at the
NAMC, the list of registered
journalists, and a representative
sample of promotional material
about local cultural activity
provided in the Centre.
We also recorded and analysed
observations of the Centre’s
structure and operations
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(including the distribution of
information stands and the use of
facilities). Addressing objective 1
also entailed the review of
materials about the Main Press
Centre. This provided a basis to
compare both centres and assess
the level of cultural information
provided to accredited
journalists.
For Objective 2, we conducted
seven semi-structured interviews
with representatives from
selected local organisations
presenting cultural activities
during Games time. We did not
target organisations solely
interested in promoting tourism
and economic benefit to their
region, but rather engaged with
organisations and individuals
trying to present local cultural
and artistic vibrancy.
Finally, Objective 3 entailed
speaking to journalists (both
accredited and non-accredited)
and local promoters in an
unstructured interview setting
within the NAMC. We discussed
their priorities, concerns, and
perceptions of the value given to
NAMCs in the media coverage of
the Olympic Games.
Research Programme
Funds were required to gather
primary data during the 2004
Olympic Games period in
Athens. NAMCs are open to
journalists only during the
Olympic fortnight, which made it
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fundamental to conduct research
during this time. Our full
participation during these weeks
was necessary to achieve
Objectives 2 and 3 and a
preceding week to work towards
achieving Objective 1.
During the first week, we
identified our key contacts for the
personal interviews, arranged
times for meetings and gathered
key documentation about the
MPC and the NAMC.
During the second week we
gathered information about the
main cultural promoters within
the NAMC.
During both week 2 and 3,
documentation was gathered on
daily news releases, monitoring
of journalist participation, and
promotion of other cultural
activities.
Also during these final two
weeks, the remaining interviews
were undertaken, and we
dedicated time to engage with
local groups at cultural events
(Objective 2 and 3).
Main findings
1. Operational structure and
function of the NAMC and how
it compares with accredited
Olympic media centres
The NAMC was an active centre
of information for the media,
attracting a wide diversity of
García and Miah, 2004: British Academy project
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journalists representing not only
mainstream media (as is the case
in the accredited centres) but also
smaller outlets such as specialist
culture and trade magazines and
community radio stations. The
majority of registered journalists
represented Greek media but
also, significantly, Chinese media,
the country to host the next
Games in 2008.
The NAMC provided daily
briefings about the political,
social and cultural issues
surrounding the Games, while
the accredited centres focused on
the sporting competitions and
IOC related matters exclusively.
It was located in the centre of
Athens to ensure maximum
representation of daily city-life
stories. This allowed easy access
to the main cultural and symbolic
events including the torch relay
and torch lighting in the
Parthenon, the main street-based
cultural programming and some
sporting events such as the road
cycling and the marathon. The
accredited centres were at the
Olympic Park, the base of most
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competition venues, 20miles from
the centre.
The NAMC offered a relaxing
and comfortable environment
compared with the accredited
centres. It made a point of
offering good quality food and
refreshments, representative of
Greek gastronomy; it showcased
stands sponsored by the main
Greek public agencies
representing tourism, heritage,
the arts and offering related
services to journalists; it offered
daily afternoon and evening
functions providing a taste of
Greek cultural heritage.
The NAMC had no official link to
the accredited centres but
ensured representation of the
Olympic organising committee in
all non-sporting related issues
such as cultural, educational and
environmental matters.
2. Representing local cultures
and other relevant international
cultural issues
Our interviewees insisted that the
NAMC provided a good platform
to present their work. This is
García and Miah, 2004: British Academy project
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because the management team
was easily accessible to public
agencies and related
organisations compared with the
strict regulations of the Olympic
organising committee.
The NAMC provided a venue for
high profile presentations that
were not featured in the
accredited centres, which tend to
be consumed by news concerning
the sporting competitions.
These included:
• Presentation of the Olympic
Truce initiative, attended by
the Greek and UK PMs, Royal
family of Spain, etc.
• Presentation of Greek major
projects: European Capital of
Culture’06, bid to host the
Universal Expo 2008
• Other world major events:
Melbourne Commonwealth
Games’06
On the down side, the media
value of the cultural stories was
not always optimal. Despite its
diversity, information about its
purpose was not always made
clear to journalists.
Furthermore, the amount of local
guests linked to special
presentations sometimes
outnumbered that of journalists.
As a result, some events seemed
to act more as private parties than
media opportunities. Also, the
range of activities presented was
unbalanced.
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 www.culturalolympics.org.uk

The NAMC was open to portrayed the stories of local

contributions from all sorts of cultural groups including ethnic
cultural groups, but the majority minorities and marginal
of presentations addressed the communities.
interests of key Greek public
agencies in terms of tourism and Recommendations
business attraction rather than
the Greek artistic community and Future hosts of the Olympic
wider population. This was Games, including the candidates
evident in the tone of many for the 2012 Games, will benefit
cultural presentations, where from supporting the work of
traditional forms predominated future NAMCs.
over contemporary expressions.
These centres provide a dynamic
3. How did journalists make setting and can deal with queries
sense of the place and utilise it in a more flexible way than the
official accredited centres. Most
Journalists were pleased with the importantly, they offer
setting and the diversity of alternative stories that allow a
activities on offer. However, there greater understanding of the
was a lack of understanding of Olympic host and can ensure a
the purpose of the NAMC and fairer representation of local
how it differed from the communities.
accredited centres. Mainstream
journalists using the NAMC
Outcomes so far
because of its convenient location
often complained about the lack
The researchers are acting as
of sporting information (a
advisors to the London 2012 Bid
function is did not intend to
and have conducted informal
serve). Despite these complaints,
meetings with the UK Secretary
300 out of the 15,000 accredited
of State for Culture, Media and
journalists ended using the
Sport.
NAMC as their main base.
This project has received
Eight out of ten journalists
extensive media coverage in the
representing alternative and
weeks following the end of the
specialist media were interested
Games.
in the stories on offer at the
NAMC rather than sporting
Beatriz García will be speaking at
stories. Their angle was more
the Annual Meeting of the UK
diverse and inclusive than that of
National Olympic Academy on
the mainstream Olympic media.
the initial findings of the project.
They covered the political and
social issues surrounding the
Games hosting process and

García and Miah, 2004: British Academy project 6

 www.culturalolympics.org.uk

Acknowledgements

Very special thanks to Virginia &

Tassos who hosted us in Athens for
the duration of this project.

Thanks to Kris Krug from Spark-

Online and Anthony Edgar, IOC
media operations manager, for
facilitating our registration at the
NAMC and wider access to Olympic
media information.

Also thanks to the NAMC- based

Hellenic International Press Officers
who generously offered their insight
and recommendations.

Finally, thank you to the cultural

team at the Athens Olympic
Organising Committee and staff at
the Hellenic Culture Organisation
for the amount of time and resources
offered to allow us gain a full
understanding of the wealth of
cultural activity taking place in the
lead to, during and after the Games.

García and Miah, 2004: British Academy project 7