The Olympics Will Not Be Tweeted, Vined, Or Instagrammed — Or Maybe They Will

Any journalist who uses a phone, tablet, or pocket camera to take photos and shoot videos at the Sochi Winter Olympics will be stripped of accreditation on the spot, according to reports from a seminar about coverage. Update: The International Olympic Committee says otherwise, telling reporters that social media use is encouraged.

Journalists who use amateur-standard technology to take photos or videos of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will be kicked out immediately, the editor of Russia's state sports news agency, which is part of the Olympic accreditation committee, has reportedly said.

Vasily Konov, editor of RIA Novosti subsidiary R-Sport, told a seminar for sports journalists on Friday that print reporters using any sort of multimedia would be "considered a serious violation and lead to their accreditation being canceled," multiple Russian outlets reported. Only journalists with professional equipment and special badges will be allowed to do so.

[Update: International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said otherwise in an email to USA Today's For The Win, writing, "Please take as many photos as you like!" and "Sharing pix on social media positively encouraged."]

"Organizers won't be able to have any effect on normal spectators, but supporters will be banned from bringing reflex cameras and nonprofessional equipment to the competitions," Konov added.

Konov later denied that he had made the statement and called a story from the user-generated Ridus news outlet a "monstrous lie." Radio Free Europe, however, reported him as saying the same thing.

"Look at my Instagram from the London Games and draw your own conclusions," Konov told BuzzFeed. "I've been going to the [Olympics] since 2000 and never had a problem like that once."

@maxseddon @radiosvoboda посмотрите мой инстаграм с Олимпиады в Лондоне и сделайте выводы, на ОИ с 2000г и ни разу не было таких проблем

Василий Конов (37+)

@VasilyKonov

@maxseddon @radiosvoboda посмотрите мой инстаграм с Олимпиады в Лондоне и сделайте выводы, на ОИ с 2000г и ни разу не было таких проблем

/ Via

Several journalists have already fallen foul of strict accreditation regulations surrounding the Olympics. Dmitry Navosha, director of the popular site Sports.ru, accused the committee of denying his correspondents accreditation in August because his site was a vastly more popular competitor to R-Sport. RIA Novosti head Svetlana Mironyuk is head of the accreditation commission, and R-Sport boss Dmitry Tugarin is a member. Independent Dutch journalists working on a long-term multimedia project about Sochi were denied renewed press credentials in September. And a crew of Norwegian TV journalists were repeatedly arrested by police in Sochi in late October and early November with little to no explanation.

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