Sports editor takes Reuters to court over Olympics ban

Defendants in the action are Reuters and three US-based executives: Stuart Karle, chief operating officer, Paul Ingrassia, deputy editor-in-chief, and Larry Rubenstein, head of logistics. Karle and Ingrassia appointed Radford’s deputy, Ossian Shine, to lead Reuters’ Olympic reporting team in London.

Radford, who was told by senior editors he could not enter the Reuters office at the main press centre in the Olympic Park during the Games, is a veteran of 15 Olympics and led the entire Reuters team at the previous five Games before the surprise removal of his Olympic responsibilities just six months before this year’s opening ceremony.

He has been with Reuters for more than 30 years and has been a member of the International Olympic Committee’s press commission for more than 10 years. He was a member of the London Olympic committee’s organising group and other Olympics panels.

Radford led the Reuters team of 300 journalists, photographers and camera crews at the 2008 Beijing Games and was later flown to New York by Reuters to collect the annual award for its news story of the year.

Several senior Olympics figures are due to give evidence on his behalf as well as a number of past and present Reuters colleagues. ■