Battle against egos a journalist’s nightmare

Members of the media before the match. [Photo/REUTERS]

This is for the young people hoping to get into sports journalism. The Fifa World Cup is not for the faint-hearted. It is a place of battle against egos not just of players, but of media colleagues who have made it to the top.

To be at the World Cup, you are supposed to be on the streets ahead of the game. Asking ‘silly’ questions draws a scornful look of … ‘where did you learn the trade.’ It is even worse with the language barrier. All you get is a cold stare especially from the European ones. African, South American, North America and Asian journalists are a bit approachable.

Fifa Accreditation is the most important document you need, which you can acquire by registering on the Media Channel on the Fifa website.

However, you will do everything to get the Fifa accreditation and later the media ticket to the mixed zone where you get to interact with the big stars of the game. But that is just the easy part.

Your problems start with your boss waiting for that bite and/or quote from the star players.

Your accreditation spells what you can do and what you cannot do. If you have the Written Press like yours truly, taking images is an atrocious mistake. Stick to your paper and pen or a sound recorder or you are thrown out the mixed zone.

If you have rights to video recording, well that is fine for you but not still images or selfies because of priceless image rights of the stars. [Robin Toskin in Moscow]