Those of you heading to COP10 with press badges may be interested in the following.
Access to Japanese Delegation Briefings
The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) will draft a letter and hand-deliver it to press officers at the Foreign, Environment, and Trade Ministries calling on the Japanese government, as host of COP10, to ensure fair and equal access to Japanese delegation briefings by non-press club media. Specifically, FCCJ will request that the Foreign Ministry, at least, ensure that an international media liasion is available each evening, after the daily Japanese language briefing, to answer questions from interested press on what the Japanese delegation to COP10 is thinking and doing.
I realize that most of you are going don't need up-to-the-minute information on what the delegation is doing. And it's true that CBD Shimin Network will probably be happy to tell any foreign journalist what the Japanese government's position is--with their own spin, of course. But past experience has shown that unless some pressure is put on the bureaucrats, they will not be proactive in explaining to "outsiders'' like foreign media what they are doing.
The letter is polite and diplomatic, but realistically it is unlikely to elicit much of a response beyond, "don't worry, be happy'' and, if we're lucky, a vague promise that some English-speaking, non-career (shokutaku) office worker might be made available to deal with foreign media at certain times. But even that's better than nothing, which is pretty much the way it's been in the past. Courtesy of Eric Johnston
Internet Access
Just talked to someone at NHK International (they're in charge of the International Media Center at the COP 10 conference hall) about internet access during the conference. They're not 100% sure yet what the situation will be, but are fairly sure that wireless service will be available free of charge throughout the media center. If you bring a cable, you can also use that to access free internet service in the center. There will be another update when they know for sure, and we will pass on the information then. Courtesy of Winifred Bird
