Photographers, journalists and bloggers are to boycott the Notting Hill carnival this weekend after organisers demanded that the press pay to cover it.
London Notting Hill Carnival Enterprises Trust, which organises the annual celebration of Caribbean music and culture, wants them to pay a £100 accreditation fee and make their content free to share with others.
A form issued to journalists said that the new rules “meet the requirements of a modern sustainable Carnival organisation concurrent with facilitating access to Europe’s largest street event”.
Journalists and photographers who paid the accreditation fee before the August 15 deadline will receive access to controlled press areas at the event.
In return, the trust requires them to share their content within three weeks so that it can be published on the carnival website and social media channels.
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John Toner of the National Union of Journalists said that the media should not be forced to pay to cover a genuine news event, while it is “unacceptable that the organisers expect pictures and video to be supplied free for their commercial purposes”.
Soca News, a magazine on Caribbean music and culture, said that although it had been reporting on the Notting Hill Carnival since 1996, it would not be paying the accreditation fee.