Our excellent coverage of the Paris Olympic Games was praised by management with good reason. But that coverage belied considerable logistical failures which management glossed over in its responses to questions posed by SUD in October. SUD is concerned about the working conditions for journalists as we face colossal logistical challenges to ensure top-notch coverage of the 2026 Football World Cup which is being held in three countries and Winter Games on around a dozen Italian sites in 2026.
From the start of the Paris Games, SUD pointed out the spartan conditions of the residence chosen at La Défense, but in particular the heat in the rooms – it never dropped below 28 degrees (82F), even at night. This hindered the performance and endangered the health of our staff who were unable to rest properly after exhausting days of work. When we alerted management to the problem, SUD received nothing but contempt from the former DG, who "sleeps very well at home in 28 degrees." Good for her!
Management replied that all the rooms had been equipped with fans (which had to be set up by yourself). This is false, and it does not solve the problem anyway: moving hot air around does not lower the temperature. Bronze medal for climate control.
Poor housing choice
The entirely glass building located on a loud intersection was a poor choice to house our staff. How and when was that choice made? “More than three years before the event,” responded management. If that’s so, why did the teams have to wait until May 2024 to find out the location despite repeated requests, to which the head of Major Events replied: “we’re working on it.” Who’s telling the truth? If this choice was indeed made three years before, for an event in the city where AFP is headquartered, then there’s nothing to brag about.
Management praised itself for the fact that journalists had individual rooms in Paris, which is true, but then said this was always the case except for Beijing in 2022. This is false: some employees did not have individual rooms in 2006 at the Turin Games, in 2010 at the Vancouver Games, in 2014 at the Football World Cup in Brazil and in 2016 at the Rio Games. Useful reminder for the future: a living room is not a bedroom, and these competitions are not summer camps for journalists.
"Many journalists and technicians appreciated the accommodations," management trumpeted in its response to our RIC question. SUD suggests sending an anonymous survey to all participants. Dare you?
Olympic disorganization
Health and comfort were clearly not a concern for management and our Major Events unit. The AFP office at the Porte Maillot media center was equipped with only small, rigid chairs. Despite rapid complaints from people with back health problems, it took several days and the intervention of the company doctor to obtain chairs like we have at headquarters. Equipment needed to get our jobs done was also lacking: There were only three televisions to follow dozens of simultaneous events. Despite their requests, the sports editor-in-chief was forced to follow competitions on a mobile phone, or use a screen on their workstation, complicating the rest of their work (following activity on Iris, Teams, the Olympic website, etc.). Silver medal for lack of anticipation and consideration.
Another problem: a ban on video journalists to take taxis to and from Olympic sites. Ahead of the Games the head of Major Events prohibited the use of taxis as “the worst possible choice” for transport… but AFP only arranged for special traffic passes for one minivan and several cars and motorcycles. This no doubt saved some money, but it posed a burden on video journalists, who are otherwise allowed to take taxis due to their heavy equipment. Following an alert by SUD and a mobilization by video journalists management finally saw the light… but only after lots of wasted time and effort that left some feeling management has little understanding or respect for the challenges faced by journalists.
What are friends for?
If you think we’ve hit rock bottom, the gold medal for obfuscation goes to the handling of the extremely precious accreditations. SUD obtained the complete list of AFP accredited persons for the events only on its third request a good six months after the Games. What is behind this new lack of transparency?
Two retired AFP journalists were seen in the press section with AFP accreditations in order to watch events, which the list confirmed.
According to management, one of them “brought his expertise in Olympic data to the production of 12,000 headshots of the athletes,” helping with the carrying out of a contract for our subsidiary Factstory. What was this contract? Why wasn’t he accredited by Factstory? Did he really work during the Games, on the Olympic sites?
The other was press chief for the events held in Saint-Etienne and is said to have “provided many services” to AFP during the Games. Saint-Etienne hosted three football matches during the Olympics, a drop in the ocean in the overall Games. What services could he have provided to merit receiving a pass to a Paris event? And since he worked for Paris-2024, couldn’t he have turned to the organizers for a pass? As a former head of the Major Events unit, he surely knew how to take advantage of his successor’s good will.
Sports Desk left out
So, what’s the problem with this? AFP had a limited number of accreditations and not all sports reporters had the opportunity to cover events. Moreover, the majority of the Sports Desk members, generally the youngest, remained stuck at Place de la Bourse, far from the sports editor-in-chief, who was at Porte Maillot with all the other teams (technical, photo and video coordination, photo editing, English, Spanish, and Arabic desks). Organizational heresy for an event of this size that results in dozens of daily alerts and an insane volume of copy, in addition to a terrible lack of respect for those who worked body and soul to improve and validate a gargantuan volume copy.
In addition to the happy retirees, several members of management were able to obtain one of the precious accreditations. For what purpose? We posed the question but got no answer. If it is understandable that the CEO has a representative function at these kinds of events, but in the press gallery? And why were other accreditations granted, in particular to the former DG as a photographer?
Now we understand why they believe that everything went so well. For them it did, but not for many journalists. The Paris 2024 Games demonstrates what is wrong with our Major Events unit. It serves to create privileges for itself and top management while failing to ensure decent working conditions for regular journalists. Any dissatisfaction, let alone complaints, are met by gaslighting and denials. This situation is shameful and prevents the Agency from doing its best work. SUD calls for a rethinking of how planning for major sporting events is organized. Our staff deserve no less, and our clients as well.
Paris, January 30, 2025
SUD-AFP (Solidarity-Unity-Democracy)