Meet the press

Not everyone walking around Auckland in a trench coat during the Apec conference will be a Secret Service agent.

At least 1500 of them will be the correspondents and television crews who follow their countries' leaders around the world.

Although the major networks still had to hand out the assignments at the time of writing, they are all promising to be here.

Says CNN spokesman Earl Casey: "Of course CNN will be staffing, not only with White House correspondents covering President Clinton, but also with international staff."

Through them, the international spotlight will shine brightly on Noo Zealand over the weekend of the leaders' summit.

But getting their stories to the world is an enormous logistical exercise.

About now, work will have begun on turning the Aotea Centre into a media hub complete with television editing suites and briefing rooms. Some 200 work spaces with desks, telephones and power points will be installed, to be rented by the 38 news organisations expected to attend.

The Apec organisers will also provide photocopiers, fax machines, some personal computers and internet access.

To cope with the flow of electronic information, Telecom has more than doubled the capacity of its cables into the Aotea Centre.

On the night of Friday September 10, 42 Apec ministers will file onto the stage of the ASB Theatre for the largest press conference of the weekend.

Although the leaders will not grace that stage themselves, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley will hold her post-summit briefing there at the close.

Not all media will use the Aotea Centre however. The White House press corps has opted to hunker down at Sky City instead, and Telecom has installed 125 new telephone lines for them.

The Canadians are using the Centra Hotel, the Taiwanese the New President Hotel on Victoria St and the Japanese will report from the Barrycourt Motel in Parnell.

There will also be media centres at the airport and the Parnell Community Centre, close to the leaders' meeting at the Museum.

Of course not all 1500 broadcasters and scribes will be cramming into the Parnell Community Centre.

Apec organises 'pools' of journalists who are given the necessary accreditation. Around 200 reporters will be accredited to cover the leaders' meeting, with the expectation that they will share their stories with the rest of the pack.

TVNZ has a similar role as host broadcaster - a contract it won after a competitive local tender. It provides a raw feed from all the public events for the other international networks to use.

But if any of the international media think they will be feted by the Apec organisers while they are here, they will be disappointed. Apart from complimentary coffee and biscuits, the reporters, or at least their employers, will be buying their own cocktails.