- Wikimedia Uruguay is denied press accreditation by FIA
The FIA Formula E Championship, a FIA-sanctioned motorsport championship for electric cars, will race next December at Punta del Este, Uruguay. Members of the Wikimedia Uruguay chapter have covered several sports events in Uruguay, therefore we thought of asking a press pass for the race.
On October 10, Wikimedia Uruguay sent an email to the FIA Formula E media staff asking for help. We were given a document with the steps to register to the FIA media website, which we did. On October 16 we were told that our application was being considered.
By October 24 we didn't get any other email, so we asked the FIA Formula E and FIA media staff for the status of the application. Two days later, the FIA media staff told us that the application was rejected because "the publication does not match the accreditation criteria". We asked which criteria we didn't match, but have had no answer as of November 3.
Wikimedia is one of the top 10 most viewed websites in the world. We are a major sports and technology media outlet, renowned for being high quality, updated and complete. So I'm very disappointed that FIA refused to give us a press pass. It's sad to see a sports promoter deny Wikimedia Uruguay volunteers the chance to share photos and videos of their events to citizens around the world. Not only it would be free promotion to them, but it would be appreciating sports fans who are passionate and eager to cover their event.