Torino Piemonte Media Center
The Torino Piemonte Media Center is where all the non-accredited journalists go. Non-accredited in this case, means they are not part of the official paid coverage. Media organizations pay rights to cover the sports and for access to all the venues, and are located in the International Broadcast Center or the Main Broadcast Center. So, unaccredited does not mean (as I first thought), non-traditional media like citizen journalists that myself, Kris, and Robert are representing, but rather all those that have not paid rights. Even the major media organizations, such as CBC, New York Times, BBC, etc., only have a limited number of accredited media, and all their extra journalists use the Media Center as their base camp. They cover all those elements of the Games that are not the sporting events. For example, press conferences covering the bands that are playing at the Medal Center are held at the non-accredited center.
Kris and Robert had filled out information ahead of time and had printed badges. It was easy for me to just fill out information on the spot, representing Urban Vancouver as a citizen journalist. As part of registering, you get access to the Media Center plus this orange bag filled with information about the Torino / Piemonte region (Piemonte is the equivalent of a Canadian province, much like BC in relation to Vancouver / Whistler). What this points out is that the level of security is quite low -- all you need is a passport to register as a journalist. This is interesting, since many high profile events actually get covered there.
Once registered, we went down to the Media Center cafeteria. The Piemonte region uses this space for tastings, as well as offering lunch for 10EU, with a selection of different products every day. We feasted on meats and cheeses, and even sampled three different wines from the region, as well as being a gift pack of chocolates specific to Piemonte. I've posted two short video entries covering what we sampled.
The one downside with the Media Center was Internet access. This is crucial for our work here, and it turns out, crucial for any of the journalists covering the games -- we often would rub elbows with the CTV team here at British Columbia Canada Place, since it has great Internet infrastructure with free wifi everywhere and lots of power outlets. At the Media Center, wifi cost 8EU per hour, and in the end, we were never able to get it configured to work properly. I've said it before: charging for wifi usually costs more to put the infrastructure in place to charge for it rather than the cost of actually providing the service.
I'm definitely gathering all sorts of ideas for the technology and promotions that Vancouver and BC can potentially offer.
