Critical sports journalists should choose their words carefully when blogging about sports officials. In Germany, freelance journalist and former sports editor of the Berliner Zeitung, Jens Weinreich, has become the target of an aggressive campaign by the German Football Federation (DFB) after he described DFB president Theo Zwanziger as an “incredible demagogue” in a posting on a German sports blog.

News agencies AP, Reuters and Agence France-Presse have chosen to suspend the coverage of Australian cricket events. The news agencies feel that the terms of accreditation are limiting the freedom of press.

American media giant CBS has filed a lawsuit against the NFL Players’ Association, in response to threats by the Association that it would bring legal action unless CBS agreed to pay licence fees for use of player statistics in its NFL Fantasy Football tournament. The lawsuit marks another flashpoint in the debate over the limits of a free press in the world of sport.

A new internet TV channel will be transmitting 8 hours of live footage with commentaries daily as well as news from the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games.

Principles of independent journalism won in the latest skirmish between sports federations and media organisations about the rights to cover sport events. The battle took place in the European Parliament where members voted on amendments to a report on the European Commission’s White Paper on Sport which could have introduced new intellectual property rights to sport events.

With less than six months to the start of the Beijing Olympic Games, the Chinese government is failing in its pledge to allow free access to foreign journalists.

The increasing competition newspapers are facing from developments in the communications industries are pushing some journalists to exaggerate and spin stories to sell papers and justify their jobs argues Philip Townsend, communications director for Manchester United Football Club.

New technology is affecting the broadcasting, perception and marketing of sport – and in some cases changing its rules too.