The Conservative Party has set a dangerous precedent for countries seeking to avoid media scrutiny of their political doings, according to hundreds of foreign media groups. In a move likely to deter journalist attendance, party heads introduced a fee for media accreditation at its last annual conference and are imposing charges again this year in the face of heavy criticism.
Press groups now face a charge of £137 (€160, $175) for the October conference in Manchester. This will rise to £880 (€1,030, $1,125) from August 1st. The Guardian reports that a “widespread boycott now looks likely.”
Responding to the fee, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) of UK-based overseas media said,
This decision sets a dangerous precedent for countries all over the world who will use this decision to justify financial and other barriers to media scrutiny of the political process.
We have not found any comparable charges in any other country in the world, let alone in any other democracy … We therefore call upon the Tory party conference organisers to scrap or refund the charges and allow fair and free reporting for all.
The open letter has received signatures from almost 300 media groups, including The New York Times, Der Spiegel, AFP, Le Monde, and The Sydney Morning Herald. Media in more than 60 countries are represented by the document. These did not receive immediate comment from Conservative Party headquarters.
Accreditation for the Labour conference is only free until late July, after which time access will cost from £75 to £95.
The Tories said the conference fee helped to cover the costs of “thousands” of journalists failing to show up, but the FPA responded that it had been shown no evidence for this amount of no-shows.
