THE 29th SEA Games Main Press Centre (MPC) and International Broadcast Centre (IBC) were officially opened on Thursday (10 Aug 2017), equipped with modern facilities and more than 700 work stations to ensure smooth media coverage of the Kuala Lumpur Games from Aug 19 to 30.
Youth and Sports Minister YB Brig Gen Khairy Jamaluddin, who officially opened the media hub at the Malaysia International Trade Centre (MITEC), is impressed and pleased with the facilities provided at both centres.
“There are ample facilities made available for members of the media who are covering the Games. I call on the media, both foreign and local, to make full use of the facilities for their own comfort,” said Khairy.
“There’s bound to be some teething problem but we promise to give our best to overcome any shortcomings. There is good work space and excellent facilities for the media. I hope no one will have to sit on the floor to file their stories and images,” he said.
“To the members of the media, we welcome the scrutiny, but at the same, please report accurately, fairly and responsibly,” said YB Brig Gen Khairy at the launch.
The number of press corps for KL2017 has increased vastly with a total of 2,933 media representatives registered for the Games, three times bigger as compared to Singapore. They include reporters, photographers, broadcast journalists, cameramen, and the host broadcaster crew.
The 35,000 square feet MPC provides 744 workstations and other standard media facilities including photo service courtesy of Sony (Official KL2017 Camera), Canon, and Nikon.
“Via the IBC at MITEC, 28 sports will be beamed live of with more than eight channels dedicated to KL2017.
Some 30 hours of transmission across all channels are planned throughout the Games,” added Khairy.
As the broadcasting hub, the IBC will host nine major broadcasters from four countries, namely RTM (Host Broadcaster), Astro Arena and Media Prima (Offciial Media). Foreign broadcasters include TVRI and SCTV (Indonesia), TPT (Thailand), VTV and HTV (Vietnam), as well as Mediacorp (Singapore).
Apart from the local media, international news agencies such as Agency France Presse (AFP), Reuters, Associated Press (AP), European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), Getty Images, American Eyes Press and Al
Come Aug 19, MITEC will be a hive of activity as apart from MPC and IBC, the brand new centre will also be the venues for eight sports – boxing, fencing, gymnastics, indoor hockey, muay thai, table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting.
