Media coverage of the Olympic Games without borders with Paris Médias 2024

Enabling 52 journalists to cover the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Launched at the 17th edition of the International Agora for Journalism in Tours, from 26 to 28 March 2024, the Paris Médias 2024 project has big ambitions. Every four years, the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games captivate millions of viewers around the world, both through their television screens and over digital platforms. Yet, in many parts of Africa, this exceptional event remains in the shadows, often because of the exorbitant cost of broadcasting rights and difficulties in obtaining accreditation for journalists.

CFI, aware of these obstacles, has taken up this issue by implementing the first component of its Paris Médias 2024 project in sub-Saharan Africa. It is providing the technical and financial resources for almost 50 journalists from countries such as Morocco, Lebanon, Benin or Madagascar to receive training in how to cover sporting events, and for them to then come and report on the Games from Paris where it will have set up a temporary newsroom, thus ensuring that they are fully immersed.

The second component of this bold project focuses on diversity, particularly during the Paralympic Games. The latter suffer from under-representation on satellite channels, particularly in the media of North Africa and the Middle East. The goal of Paris Médias 2024 is therefore to break down these barriers by supporting coverage of the Games in Arabic, and highlighting the participation of women, minorities and people with disabilities.
Nine sports journalists from Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, who work with websites and radio stations, will be supported in their plans and content production.

In order to carry out these two missions, CFI is offering a number of opportunities to the 52 journalists selected: online training in the run-up to the Games, financial support for the production of content, and the setting up of two temporary newsrooms in Paris, dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic Games respectively. Together, these activities will enable journalists from 17 countries to provide inclusive, real-time media coverage of the world's biggest sporting event.

#ProjetEnAction: follow our beneficiaries' productions live

Articles:
• Paris-2024: the ‘sacred fire’ will blaze in Olympia on Tuesday, by Makram Haddad for Ici Beyrouth (in French)
• Morocco's blind football team in the Argentina-Japan group at Paris 2024, by Omar Chraibi for Sport Belpresse (in Arabic)
• Zakia Sharqawi: a Moroccan overcoming disability to win gold, by Soulaimane Bakbach for Taja Sport (in French)

Our interviews:
• Three questions for... Soulaimane Bakbach, freelance journalist for several media and Arabic-language editor-in-chief of Taja Sport

Reports:
• Reports from the 8th International Para Athletics Meeting in Marrakech, by Omar Chraibi for Sport Belpresse

Podcasts:
• Interview with Najwa Awane, Moroccan wheelchair tennis player, by Youssef Chani for radio 2M

What are the civic and media challenges for Paris 2024?

The first 100% gender equal Games in history: this is how the International Olympic Committee describes the world's biggest sporting event of the year, which will take place this summer in Paris. However, will the media also play the game of 100% equality between women and men in the sports’ newsrooms? Update on the progress and obstacles observed in March.
- Update on progress and obstacles: will the Paris 2024 Games foster greater gender equality?

Will Paris 2024 result in women gaining ground?

Combating racism, talking about all sportsmen and women, raising young peoples’ awareness of this information at clubs, etc. These are the civic and media challenges facing the forthcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, as discussed at the most recent edition of the International Agora for Journalism in Tours (France), for example.
- Overview: What are the public and media challenges for Paris 2024?

Media and environmental responsibility during and after the Games

Co-author of Upgrading journalistic practices to tackle the ecological emergency: a charter, which has nearly 2,000 individual signatories in addition to some thirty media outlets, Laurie Debove, editor-in-chief of La Relève et la Peste, an independent media outlet specialising in ecological issues, brought up the issue of the media’s environmental responsibility during and after the Paris Olympic Games at the International Agora for Journalism in Tours. She answers questions from Emmanuel de Solère Stintzy: her interview (in French).