Roger Mosey, the director of the BBC’s coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games, has defended the UK public-service broadcaster’s decision to accredit 765 members of staff for the event – a significant increase on the 493 who worked at the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.
Mosey said that an increase in staff numbers was inevitable considering the BBC’s increase in output, with four times as many multi-platform channels covering the Games and a heightened level of public interest in a “home Games.”
“Throughout, audiences will expect us to report on security, travel and organisational issues alongside the live sport on a significantly different scale to [the 2004 summer Olympics in] Athens or Beijing,” Mosey said. “There will be some critics who challenge these kinds of numbers…[but] big events require significant staffing levels.”
Mosey added that, to reduce costs, only 23 per cent of the accredited staff would travel to London to cover the Games from Salford in Greater Manchester, the new home of the BBC’s sports department.
“For those who do travel down, there will be overnight stays…but many will be put up in low-cost student-type accommodation,” he added.
The BBC is under pressure to cut costs due to a government-imposed licence-fee freeze, and Mosey, who drew comparisons with US network NBC accrediting 2,800 staff at previous Olympics, said that the UK broadcaster had attempted to strike the right balance with its coverage plans.
“At every stage of the BBC 2012 operation, we’ve been conscious of the need to run as efficient an operation as we can do and to spend our budget wisely,” Mosey said.
“But equally we know that British audiences expect us to cover these Games well, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment for this country where the broadcasting will be required to live up to the event.”