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Media village offers reporting retreat
During breakfast, the dining marquee set up inside the media village turns into a merging point for media personnel, not only from all 45 Asian countries but also from outside the region
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uring breakfast, the dining marquee set up inside the media village turns into a merging point for media personnel, not only from all 45 Asian countries but also from outside the region.
Coupons from the organizers are needed for entry before being provided with a buffet menu that includes Korean stew and halal food.
Breakfast is included in the room rate, which costs US$80 for a room with shared bathroom or $100 for a room and ensuite bathroom.
'Press representatives are arriving from all Asian countries. We want to provide convenience in accommodation and transport to the main press center,' the general manager of the athletes' village, Yun Byeong-seok, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Located at Namdong-gu, the media village encompasses 1,124 units in 15 apartment blocks. The athletes' village, where most of the competing athletes stay, is in the vicinity and is adorned by several national flags ' some of gigantic proportions.
The Games' organizers have chosen to utilize the apartments to cater for the large number of journalists - estimated at around 7,000 ' many of whom cannot be accommodated in the area's limited hotels and motels.
'The media village was completed last month. We used it as a media village before the people began to move in by July,' he said.
The authorities have sealed off some of the amenities to temporary users. For instance, the kitchen is covered with plastic planks, while one room on the balcony is sealed with a 'No Entry' sign on it.
'We have to reserve it exclusively for the apartment users,' he said.
According to Byeong-seok, as many as 2,720 journalists are staying in the village. This number makes up 74 percent of its total capacity for 2,900 residents.
'I like the place,' said Askar Beysenbayev of Kazakhstan, who writes for the Russian-language, Astana-based Kazakhstankaya Pravda.
After work, Beysenbayev joins fellow Kazakhs for outdoor meals at food stalls outside the village. Some, however, opt for takeout food and snacks from minimarkets.
Journalists reporting on the Games come from all 45 participating Asian countries, as well as 'from 35 countries outside Asia, such as Great Britain, US, Germany and New Zealand,' Byeong-seok said.
As with any other international sporting event, security is paramount. The visiting journalists have to pass through a screening checkpoint that automatically flashes their passport photos on an electronic board. In addition, security guards routinely use sniffer dogs to inspect stationary vehicles and other sites.
Moreover, residents at the athletes' village are not allowed to bring in guests from outside.
When reporting jobs begin in the morning, long queues form for the shuttle buses, which depart every 10 minutes during the morning and every one hour thereafter.
It takes 30 minutes to ride to the main press center, where media staff can work or travel to the various sporting arenas. Once their work for the day is done, long queues begin to form once again as they line up to return to the athletes' village.
By Sept. 25, the queues may grow even longer, as the village authorities expect more visitors to arrive, which will take the occupancy rate to 98 percent.
' JP/Musthofid
