The Industry Standard's Bernhard Warner on Internet Olympics coverage

(CNN) -- Internet journalists wishing to cover the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia face serious obstacles in light of a decision by the International Olympic Committee not to issue credentials to them, shutting out the new media for the third consecutive Summer Games. Further, all athletes participating in the Summer Games must sign the Olympic Code of Conduct, an IOC document prohibiting them from posting their thoughts on the Internet.

Bernhard Warner is senior editor of The Industry Standard Europe, which will launch in October 2000. Previously, he helped launch The Standard’s New York news bureau. The weekly newsmagazine covers people, companies and the media in the Internet economy. Warner is frequently interviewed for his perspective on trends and news events pertaining to the Internet industry.

Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us today, Bernhard Warner, and welcome to CNN.com.

Bernhard Warner: Hello!

Chat Moderator: Why didn't the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issue any credentials to Internet journalists?

Bernhard Warner: The International Olympic Committee and a number of Olympic organizing committees from several nations got together before the Sydney Olympics and distributed 21,000 media credentials, but not a single one to a dot-com journalist. The reason was essentially that the Olympic organizers had failed to factor in Internet media in their plans.

That's the most basic argument, but deeper than that lies the fact that the games are generating $1.3 billion in TV contracts from multiple TV networks around the world. The idea of the Internet possibly scooping any TV coverage was bad for that investment, or so the Games' organizers think.

Chat Moderator: Did Internet journalists know this was going to happen, and have they protested this decision?

Bernhard Warner: This issue about credentials has been one of the bigger controversies surrounding the Games, if you can believe it. There are a number of dot-com media operations that have grown to a size far larger than many of the biggest newspapers in the United States. And yet, for the third Olympics running, they are being shut out. So, you can imagine that their patience was growing mighty thin by the time they got the news that they wouldn't be able to participate in Sydney.

Chat Moderator: How will Internet journalists be covering the Olympics?

Bernhard Warner: Stringers. Contributors. They'll probably be borrowing media credentials from wherever they can get them. This ban doesn't necessarily mean that the Internet companies won't be covering the Olympics, just that they'll face serious obstacles to do so.

Chat Moderator: Are the athletes facing any restrictions regarding Internet participation?

Bernhard Warner: Yes, they are. In the wisdom of the Games’ organizers, it's been determined that athletes' Internet diaries -- where an athlete will speak about his Olympic experience in some free-flowing way -- are not acceptable. All the athletes were asked to sign a Code of Conduct which states that that kind of activity is grounds for removal from the Games, just like blood doping or steroids use would be.

Chat Moderator: How many journalists do you think this is affecting?

Bernhard Warner: Actually, quite a few. The number of Internet journalists out there that have quite sizable audiences has grown a lot since the Atlanta games. This will probably impact several dozen very large news operations and, as a result, we're talking perhaps 100 or so journalists, maybe even more.

Chat Moderator: Can the athletes use e-mail or participate in online chats with CNN or other news organizations?

Bernhard Warner: If you follow the letter of the law, no, they wouldn't be allowed to. The question is whether the crazy rule will be enforced. There seems to be no clear answer there, either. These could be the first Games where an athlete is removed for participating in a chat.

Question from Haley-CNN: What have the dot-com companies done to avoid this happening to them for the Winter Olympics?

Bernhard Warner: Interestingly enough, there will be a summit in Switzerland in December of this year. At that summit, the IOC and a number of Internet and media companies will get together and make decisions about how the Internet can be used in the coverage of future games. The IOC has already decided that it will at least consider Internet journalists to report on the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. Even then, there are no promises. But it certainly would be restricted to only the very large Internet sports sites.

Question from Sk: Will the athletes have a live videoconference?

Bernhard Warner: At the moment, there are major restrictions on any video transmissions over the Internet that pertain to the Olympics. Of course, there will be no legal or authorized live video of the events themselves and probably no live video of the athletes as long as they're within the Olympic venues. Let's put it this way, if I were an amateur athlete, I would not chance it.

Question from Candyce-CNN: Is there any estimate of the revenue that dot-coms will lose as a result of being excluded?

Bernhard Warner: That's hard to say. With the time difference -- more than 12 hours between the East Coast and Australia -- you would think that the Internet would have a great opportunity to generate a lot of audience traffic. However, the advertisers still aren't responding. Big advertisers like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are spending a lot for TV advertising during the Olympics, but almost nothing on the Internet. So, in many ways, the really big revenue opportunities were not going to be there to begin with, for the sports sites.

Question from Sunny1-CNN: How did Quokka Sports get to be the official Web site for the Olympics?

Bernhard Warner: Quokka's history is very interesting. They worked with the IOC as consultants a few years back and after that project was over, the IOC introduced the Quokka executives to people at NBC Sports. Quokka then struck a deal with NBC, where they created a side company for the sole purpose of covering the Games on the Internet in some fashion -- not live, but some highlights and analysis, things like that.

NBC went with Quokka because the company had a reputation for being the finest Internet sports operation out there. It was certainly something that MSNBC did not have the capability to do.

Question from Candyce-CNN: What about sports organizations like Sports Illustrated, which will report via traditional media? Can they include their coverage on their Internet sites?

Bernhard Warner: Yes, they can. Sports Illustrated is actually an exception to the rule. Like all exceptions in the Olympics, it has to do with money. SI has been a long-time media sponsor of the Games, going back decades. As a result of that, CNNsi.com has big plans for their coverage of the Games, and they intend to use any kind of access they get to the Games to be as competitive to NBC and Quokka as they can.

Also, I should mention, ESPN will be very actively covering the Games as well, on their site. It's just that they won't have reporters with credentials to get access to all of the venues and all of the events.

Question from Sunny-CNN: Who will be checking the millions of Internet sites to ensure that athletes aren't posting there?

Bernhard Warner: The IOC has already instituted a policing policy. They have a few technology partners that will essentially comb each and every Web site out there to make sure there are no pirate broadcasters, if you will. But the question remains, what happens if there are fan sites with images and pictures of the Olympics? Are the organizers going to go after every fan site out there? There could be millions. And there will be millions.

Chat Moderator: Do you have any final thoughts for us?

Bernhard Warner: The IOC has reasoned that there is plenty of logic behind these Internet bans. They have billions of dollars already committed from the TV broadcast partners, and they just don't want to jeopardize that investment. As a result, they've decided that since the Internet is potentially a threat to this investment, they should just outlaw it for now.

This is not to say that the IOC is mistrustful of the Internet. They see a great potential with the Internet to promote the Games, and they'd be the first to admit that they need the Internet to promote the Games.

However, something has to give. They either have to permit the Internet to be a media platform for broadcasting the Games in some way, or they run the risk of having multiple pirate broadcasters out there that will eat into their TV contracts anyhow.

So, there is a lot that still has to be decided. And, here we are in the year 2000, with the issue no closer to being resolved than it was at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us, Bernhard Warner.

Bernhard Warner: It was my pleasure! Thank you so much! I really enjoyed this!

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