SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - TV crew speak about robbery at World Cup

Record ID: 454383

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - TV crew speak about robbery at World Cup
  • Date: 15th June 2010
  • Summary: NEAR RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 14, 2010) (REUTERS) CAMERA OPERATOR TONY GEORGE AND REPORTER DONNA-MARIE LEVER OF TVNZ'S ONE NEWS WALKING IN GROUNDS OF THEIR NEW HOTEL OUTSIDE RUSTENBURG (SOUNDBITE) (English) TONY GEORGE SAYS: "I saw my door slightly ajar, my first thought was that I had left it unlocked and I thought: 'hell, that's a worry' then I went straight into the room and noticed straight away that my laptop was missing because I had set it up for editing our track and then I looked around, saw the camera was gone, my backpack with all the sound gear was gone, the BGAN satellite gear was gone. On my bed my bag had been riffled through, my clothes were everywhere. And I thought 'Oh' it didn't take long, we've only been here less than a week, lost all the gear." (SOUNDBITE) (English) DONNA-MARIE LEVER SAYS: "About ten police officers showed up and basically took statements from us and that seemed to be all that happened. You don't expect this to happen in a FIFA-recommended hotel with a perimeter fence around it and a security guard at the gate. You know it did really take us by surprise." RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 13, 2010) (REUTERS) VIEW OF FRONT OF ORION LODGE HOTEL WHERE TVNZ EQUIPMENT WAS STOLEN SIGN FOR ORION SAFARI LODGE / SECURITY GUARDS ON THE GATE VIEW OF LANDSCAPE AND LODGE HOTEL NEAR RUSTENBURG, NORTH WEST PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 14, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TONY GEORGE SAYS: "Next day I went out and hired some gear, some DV camera gear so we could carry on which was lucky for a Sunday. So I have got the whole kit we need hopefully, the bare minimum really so that we can continue on and that is what we are doing, doing another track today, the show goes on." VIEWS OF TONY GEORGE AND DONNA-MARIE LEVER WORKING IN FIFA NEWS CONFERENCE AT ROYAL BAFOKENG STADIUM, USING HIRED CAMERA EQUIPMENT
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVACVWHA016M0C03CRFY9M08YE8O
  • Story Text: Television New Zealand reporter and camera operator Donna-Marie Lever and Tony George are continuing their work at the FIFA World Cup despite having all their camera equipment stolen at the weekend.
    On Monday (June 14) the New Zealanders, who report for TVNZ's One News, were filming news conferences before the Slovakia-New Zealand match at the Royal Bafokeng stadium on Tuesday (June 14), using hired equipment. They have also changed hotels after the theft.
    Tony George described how they left their rooms at the Orion Safari Lodge hotel in Rustenburg and visited the hotel restaurant to eat. When they returned to their rooms they found one door had been forced open.
    "I saw my door slightly ajar," said George. "My first thought was that I had left it unlocked and I thought: 'hell, that's a worry' then I went straight into the room and noticed straight away that my laptop was missing because I had set it up for editing our track and then I looked around, saw the camera was gone, my backpack with all the sound gear was gone, the BGAN satellite gear was gone. On my bed my bag had been riffled through, my clothes were everywhere. And I thought 'Oh' it didn't take long, we've only been here less than a week, lost all the gear."
    Lever said: "You don't expect this to happen in a FIFA-recommended hotel with a perimeter fence around it and a security guard at the gate. You know it did really take us by surprise."
    The equipment, worth thousands of U.S. dollars, includes satellite transmission equipment and a professional camera.
    The two are continuing to report on the World Cup for TVNZ using hired equipment.
    "Next day I went out and hired some gear, some DV camera gear so we could carry on which was lucky for a Sunday. So I have got the whole kit we need hopefully, the bare minimum really so that we can continue on and that is what we are doing, doing another track today, the show goes on," said George as he prepared for Tuesday's match.
    The robbery was the latest in a series of crimes against journalists working at the World Cup. A Chinese news crew was held at gunpoint last week and armed robbers also broke into the hotel room housing journalists covering the Portuguese team.
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