On the value of journalism and devaluation of Olympic principles

Good morning!

The last day of the IF Forum, the meeting of more than 100 international federations of Olympic and non-Olympic sport, is just beginning at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. THE INQUISITOR would have loved to continue talking to you on site, dear officials and consultants from the Olympic business, but unfortunately I was escorted out of the Olympic Museum yesterday by security.

"Private meeting", I was told at the end of a day in which I had many very good, civilised and informative conversations. Banned from the premises.

THE INQUISITOR was talk of town because of this article ...

The IOC, SportAccord, the IF Forum and Thomas Bach’s friend Uğur Erdener

What is happening in Lausanne right now at the meeting of all Olympic and non-Olympic IFs? SportAccord continues to make itself superfluous in the interests of the IOC. The information provided by SportAccord and its stakeholders is a disaster. Pretentious. Is Uğur Erdener already president?

THE INQUISITORJens Weinreich

... the revenge came immediately.

That's the Olympic reality. In any case, THE INQUISITOR will soon be publishing a major report on the experiences of two dozen journalists who take a close look at how sports federations and organisations, above all the IOC and FIFA, treat journalists and the media and how they consistently attack and suppress free reporting – with lies and threats, with disinformation, with targeted lockouts.

I wrote to the newly appointed IOC oldie at the head of SportAccord – Uğur Erdener, who is already in Montreal, busy with WADA (because there is so much to do and there are simply not enough younger officials who could take on such important positions, there must be people in multiple functions, you know) – yesterday after my expulsion:

Of course, we will always have different points of view on factual issues. And I do think that I have many arguments that you can hardly refute. We are not in the same boat. But well, I promised not to bore you any longer. So let's have a little competition, albeit with different means, the certain competition that media representatives and officials have to wage – the unfairness almost always comes from the side you represent. That has been well proven.
Best Olympic greetings!

Don't get me wrong. I also tweeted a bit yesterday ...

... but I'm just laughing at those idiots who kicked me out of the Olympic Museum. I've already experienced too much in all these years. Too many dismissals. Too many serious physical and legal threats. Once I even complained to the so-called IOC Ethics Commission – the physical threat at the time was worth this silly complaint, which is not taken seriously there anyway.

So I say cheerfully, that's a promise:

Came to stay! The INQUISITOR is not going away. Because your Olympic system needs proper inquisitions.

I was just thinking about my friend Andrew Jennings and an incident from the late summer of 1994. Some of you will know that the Olympic Congress was taking place in Paris at the time. Andrew had been declared persona non grata by the IOC and was to remain so until the beginning of 1999, when he was accredited to an event again for the first time.

Andrew sat in a café at the entrance to the congress meeting rooms in La Défense, and I brought him the documents and information for days. Back then, piles of paper were still being handed out, with all the silly speeches and promises of an ideal Olympic world. Nowadays we have other technical options.

So, d‚id the exclusion of journalists of this calibre ever achieve anything?

That's a rhetorical question. Because the answer is: of course not.

We were stronger than the Olympic empire. And we journalists who work in the tradition of Andrew Jennings will remain stronger. As unequal as the balance of power is: here the billions and the spin doctors and the expensive lawyers and the paid informers and the private investigators and the enormous pressure on the free press – there those who endeavor to do real journalism.

Read more about journalism und co-operation in the tradition of Andrew Jennings:

What would Andrew Jennings do? He would push this project forward.

The most important investigative Olympic journalist has died in 2022, in the year of the sporting rogue states with mega events in China and Qatar. We honor the legacy of Andrew Jennings with THE INQUISITOR project. Read about decades in which our network has been built. This goes beyond journalism.

THE INQUISITORJens Weinreich

Without us, without the small but ever-growing group of journalists who always try to take a very close look, the so-called reforms in the IOC would never have happened in 1999. Without us, a global good governance industry would never have emerged, which is largely controlled by the IOC at the political level (and is fake), and which generates millions in revenue for numerous lawyers and private investigators (not just the multi-contractor Richard McLaren) – for increasingly poor "investigation results", by the way.

Journalism remains. THE INQUISITOR remains.

Check our website, check the FAQs, check our team, read more about us – and read the articles.

And this is the moment when you – yes, you, who are reading this and are certainly an upright, honest official or observer of the Olympic movement – must show your colors.

Subscribe to THE INQUISITOR.

Because it is in the public interest.

And even McLaren and others (many academics among them) who make a lot of money in the good governance industry and profit exclusively from the work of journalists (a friend recently told me they are vampires of journalism, but of course I would never go so far as to say that) should consider buying a business subscription to THE INQUISITOR. It's still on special offer, with the introductory discount running until 30 November 2023.

The maths goes like this: you buy a business subscription for less than €1,000 and let THE INQUISITOR do the work. If a nice exclusive revelation is then published at some point, you contact the sports federation concerned and get the job and the million to look into the association's archives, interview a few people and write a so-called investigation report that omits important facts. And then you renew your subscription to THE INQUISITOR and the following year you get the next contract with some sports association in need.

Deal?

And all those who told me yesterday at the Olympic Museum (as long as I could be there) and elsewhere in Lausanne how important and exciting and interesting THE INQUISITOR is should also take action and book the packages.

Not just any day. Now.

Not just talk. Do it.

Here is the table of all packages.

Here are all the links again for those who want it quick and easy:

For individuals:

• Bronze (monthly, annual)
• Silver (monthly, annual)
• Gold (monthly, annual) ... all inclusive for 2 individuals

For federations, institutions, organisations, companies, ministries etc:

• Business (monthly, annual)
• Sponsor (monthly, annual)

I just had a breakfast coffee with a nice secretary general of an Olympic IF who, by the way, hasn't booked yet but promised to do so soon. And I'm off to the next appointment in a moment. Not at the Olympic Museum, but somewhere else.

You know how you can contact the team of THE INQUISITOR. Keep the information coming. Always ready for any sensible discussion.

Insidethegames is clinically dead and in the hands of Russians. THE INQUISITOR comes at the perfect time. Stay tuned. You won't be able to avoid having to read us anyway – so you might as well book a business package.

It's a fair offer that you shouldn't turn down!

However, we won't promise you that we won't publish the confidential documents you just had on your desk tomorrow morning.

Happy Olympic greetings!