FRANCE 98 – CIM Presentation

A REAL CITY WITHIN A CITY! An interview with Essar Gabriel, Manager of the CIM

Who is going to be at the Porte de Versailles ?

The following will all be coming together under our roof: the Main Press Centre (CPP), the International Broadcasting Centre (CIRTV), and the Main Accreditation Centre (CPA), the World Cup’s three major infrastructures. They represent the CFO’s heaviest investment in terms of construction and lay-out. In order to get the CIM set up in time, we have to keep to an extremely tight schedule. The last “obstacle” we have to take into account is the “Foire de Paris” which ends on 15 May. The next day, the final big installation phase begins, and then we open the 34,000 m2 centre on 1 June…

How will it all work?

The great innovation of this set-up is that for the first time ever, the two main organs of the media will be under the same roof: the Main Press Centre (where you can get information in real time from all the venues) and the International Broadcasting Centre (home to TVRS 98, the World Cup host broadcaster, and the transit-point of live sound and image from the matches). Marrying their logistics is a complicated and ambitious business, because they represent two very different sides of the same coin. As far as the security aspect of the CIM is concerned, there will be no Volunteers, only professionals. We have worked on this sensitive area in close collaboration with the Central Paris Police Department and the Ministry of Defence.

Do you have any particular worries, now that the kick-off is getting so close?

The pressure is already mounting. The first few days are going to be critical. There are accreditation credentials to be collected by journalists as from 1 June. 80% of the 12,000 accredited media representatives will be doing this in Paris before they “hit” the venues. These huge numbers have to be organised and overseen from the start at the Main Accreditation Centre. It’s up to us to make sure that this first interface between the journalists and the CFO goes smoothly. At the 1996 Olympic Games, the judo player David Douillet set the tone by carrying off the gold medal on the first day and bringing in his wake a whole stream of other medals for France. Here, at the very outset of the competition, we have to be absolutely certain not to go the other way, and then have to spend our time making up for any mistakes.

Won’t the International Media Centre just be a work place?

The CIM is in fact a village dedicated to the media, which will be “home” to 3,500 people every day. Everything has been planned to facilitate the journalists’ task. That includes leisure, too. So, for instance, you can play jorky-ball, a kind of football played on a squash court. We’ve also called on the services of two artists for various entertainments including an exhibition of pictures and collages based on press cuttings.