AP suspends Australia cricket coverage

London:

The Associated Press has suspended coverage of cricket in Australia pending resolution of a dispute over conditions imposed by Cricket Australia, the sport's governing body in the country.

AP will not cover New Zealand's tour of Australia, which starts Thursday and lasts until February. Discussions between the industry group News Media Coalition and Cricket Australia are continuing.

Other international news agencies, including Reuters and Agence France-Presse, have also said they are suspending coverage.

Cricket Australia and news agencies have been discussing the accreditation terms for several months.

CA is demanding that media organisations agree not to supply images to non-sports publications, especially those it describes as "questionable". It is also seeking to review Web sites served by the news agencies and forbid distribution of CA coverage to any it finds objectionable.

"We're still talking with CA, but we're not seeing much sign of give on the crucial points," AP Associate General Counsel Dave Tomlin said. "We can't agree to allow any outside party, especially one we're covering, to tell us where we can or can't distribute our news reports."

A similar dispute last year between CA and the three agencies was settled after coverage was suspended for the first Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka.