A day before the opening of the showcase tournament, the world's three leading news agencies suspended coverage Thursday of the Rugby World Cup in a dispute with the sport's governing body over media restrictions.
The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence-France Press said its journalists would not attend any World Cup events until the dispute over media credentials is resolved with the International Rugby Board.
"It is more than two days since the news media organisations put forward a possible peace plan, but the IRB has yet to formally respond or to set up a meeting," the media coalition said in a statement late Thursday.
"We do not believe it is the best interest of the game of rugby for the IRB to drags its feet any longer."
The AP said it hopes for a resolution soon and to be able to return to full coverage of the six-week tournament before play begins Friday with the opening match between host France and Argentina.
AFP chief executive Pierre Louette said the Paris-based agency also would not send text, video or photos from the World Cup on Thursday, other than possible images of photographers not covering the event. He said AFP has no coverage plans for Friday.
Reuters also said it was suspending coverage of pre-tournament events and training sessions, across text, photos and TV.
The AP, AFP and Reuters are part of a global coalition of news agencies and newspapers that has been negotiating with the IRB over reporting restrictions. The IRB has modified some of the original terms offered to the media for Cup coverage but has refused to change others.
Among the conditions objected to are a requirement that news organisations post no more than 40 images online from matches in progress, and a limit of no more than three minutes of news conference or locker room video posted online per match.
Earlier Thursday, the IRB and tournament organiser Rugby World Cup Limited said it regretted the agencies' suspension of coverage and described the move as "unjustifiable."
"RWCL will not be swayed by unreasonable demands and the threat of non-attendance," it said in a statement.
French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin also intervened Thursday, phoning the IRB's CEO, Mike Miller, to appeal for a rapid resumption of talks to ensure the World Cup "is not ruined," her office said.
Getty Images and the European Pressphoto Agency said they, too, were suspending photo coverage of pre-tournament events and training. Alison Crombie, a senior director of public relations at Getty, said she did not know when the photo agency's coverage might resume.
The German news service Deutsche Presse-Agentur said it had suspended coverage of the tournament, deciding not to file its preview scheduled for Thursday in its German, English and Spanish services. Because of its link with EPA, photo coverage also has been suspended.