April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

NEW DELHI, April 10: The inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) was facing a media boycott on Thursday after the influential Indian Newspaper Society joined calls for “offending” accreditation conditions to be lifted.

The Indian media has protested loudly over the IPL’s decision to ban websites from covering matches and to prohibit international and local news agencies from supplying photographs to online clients.

“The Indian Newspaper Society hopes a serious attempt will be made by the IPL to remove offending terms and conditions for media accreditation, INS president Bahubali Shah said.

“In the absence of remedial action by the IPL, members of the Indian Newspaper Society will be forced to take an adverse view on the question of coverage of IPL matches,” Shah added.

The Twenty20 competition, promoted by the Indian cricket board and featuring stars from around the world, opens April 18. The deadline for accreditation was Thursday.

The Hindu, a leading broadsheet, attacked the IPL’s policies in a scathing editorial.

“Greed and arrogance and a total lack of common sense seem to be driving the IPL along a path of confrontation, which will surely bring on a media boycott,” the daily predicted.—AFP