Editorial: Battle behind the scenes at Olympics

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

THE Rio Olympics are over ... that's it for another four years. Hope you enjoyed them.

There were some great sporting moments - not least another Olympic podium finish for Whanganui rower Rebecca Scown - and a record medal haul of 18 for New Zealand.

The Kiwi collection spanned the ages, from teenagers Lydia Ko, Eliza McCartney and rugby sevens player Terina Te Tamaki (yes, it was a good Games for the girls) to popular track veteran Nick Willis, and it put us 19th on the medal table and fifth per head of population.

However, amid the straining sinew and exhaustive efforts of the athletes another epic struggle was under way.

The struggle to provide coverage of the Games by New Zealand media.

If you thought TVNZ's lack of live action or a shortage of video footage on news websites was disappointing, you may not be alone.

Sky TV paid a very large sum of money for the NZ broadcasting rights, and with it claimed exclusivity to action of the Kiwi athletes.

So if you are not a pay-per-view person you may feel you missed out.

In Britain, and a number of other countries, laws protect the rights of free TV channels and other media to show the major sporting events - that way the whole nation gets to see their sporting heroes' triumphs and tragedies.

While New Zealand does not have such laws, it does have "fair use" laws, which allow all media to report the news, and that would allow everyone to enjoy gold medal performances from the likes of Mahe Drysdale and Lisa Carrington.

The battle went to the High Court last week with Sky trying to stop news outlets using its footage to report the significant moments of the Rio Olympics.

It is a battle which has been brewing for some time and one which will not go away.

The likes of Sky want to protect their substantial investment but they should not be doing it at the expense of New Zealand law.

Perhaps it is time for the "Fair Use" laws to be strengthened.