With just two days to go until the Nato summit, BECKY CARR looks at the impact that the world's media will have during their visit to Newport.

WITH the hotel room booked and the flight tickets printed, journalists from across the world are ready to descend on Newport.

One and a half thousand media representatives have been accredited to cover the summit from 380 different organisations across 62 countries.

The eyes of the world will be on Newport and it’s time for the city to deliver and take full advantage of the journalists raring to write about the big decisions due to be made in Gwent.

Whichever newspaper you pick up or TV station you tune into, images and footage from Newport are likely to greet you.

TV cameras may scan across the River Usk and windswept reporters may stand in front of The Wave for their reports, but the majority of journalists will be keeping their attention on the Celtic Manor.

The media centre, which resembles the tent from the Great British Bake Off on a larger scale, includes workspaces for 900 reporters with laptop space and big screens displaying the latest broadcasts from the summit.

Eighty photographers have also been accredited to capture the very important people making extremely important decisions.

A Nato official told the Argus more about the media operation. He said: “In some cases, networks accredit 50 to 60 reporters, but only end up sending 30. The number of requests this year was on par with the Chicago summit two years ago.

“In the last few years, there been an overall decline in media numbers, but that’s just based on the economy.

“There are broadly fewer journalists than five or 10 years ago.

“It’s such an exciting, complicated event to put together, it’s quite a challenge.

“The UK are doing this wonderfully well.

“It’s interesting to note a sizeable number of the 1,500 are from TV stations.

“We accredit reporters from newspapers, wires, agency writers, magazines and television, but TV seems to be the prominent part of this summit.

“We have almost 60 countries participating, some of which are not Nato members, but some meetings such as one discussing Afghanistan will draw many different delegations.

“We’ve also had journalists apply from countries who are not participating: we have reporters from China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, one from Algeria coming to the summit. They’re coming because their public are interested in what’s going on.

“It’s a lot of work. It’s gone on for several months. The UK have been the ones doing the preparatory work, in terms of logistics. They’re the ones arranging media hotels and planning transport to take the media to the media centre and back.

“We do summits every couple of years, there’s experience at the Nato headquarters that’s useful to tap in to.”

It’s hoped that foreign journalists heading to Newport might not make the same mistakes as the UK media, who by bringing their attention to South Wales and the impending summit, have slipped up on the location.

Last week, the Argus reported that the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 News, the Daily Mail and the Guardian had all stated that the summit was to be held in Cardiff rather than Newport.

Newport residents and politicians jumped to defend their city on Twitter and MP Paul Flynn accused Cardiff-based publicists of over-emphasising the capital’s role.

A BBC spokeswoman said that the Today programme team were keen to correct their error.

She said: “As a result, we not only apologised but, to explore the question of Newport further, interviewed John Rutledge from Goldie Lookin’ Chain.

“He talked enthusiastically about many positive aspects of the city, reflected in the song Newport State Of Mind, which we also played during the item.”

A lot of work has gone into helping to teach incoming reporters more about Newport and Wales.

Various social media accounts have been set up encouraging residents to share their photographs of Wales ahead of the summit, to give journalists and world leaders a quick lesson about the place they will be visiting.

A guide published by the UK Government also highlights Newport’s Transporter Bridge, Tredegar House and Tintern Abbey as places to see if visitors get any down time.

The Nato official added: “If you do a Google search, Newport probably has a lot more returns than a year ago. It’s a positive thing, everyone’s talking about it.

“It definitely puts the city on the map and it’s not just Newport, it’s also Cardiff and Bristol, as a lot of people will be staying there, too.

“It’s an opportunity for the media to stay in all those different hotels and places.

“Even though they’ll be in the media centre for long hours, there’s still an opportunity to discover somewhere new.”

A media reception is to be held at Tredegar House in Newport, hosted by the Welsh Government, at the same time as the Prince of Wales is hosting a ‘welcoming the world to Wales’ event at Celtic Manor for prime minister David Cameron, first minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, and other leaders and dignitaries.

“Not only will the Nato summit in Newport be the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Britain, it is also an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Wales on a global stage, “ said secretary of state for Wales Stephen Crabb.

“Wales is home to some truly spectacular venues. I’m delighted that representatives from around the world will have the chance to experience first-hand Wales’ rich history and cultural heritage as well as our traditional warm welcome and hospitality.”

With a bit of luck, events surrounding the Newport summit won’t echo those of Chicago in 2012, where the attention of the world’s media was drawn away from world leaders and to the tense protest surrounding the event.

Several journalists were arrested and injured while covering the protests in Chicago when thousands of anti-Nato protesters clashed with police officers.

Chief Constable Jeff Farrar has previously insisted Gwent Police are prepared for the challenge that may face them and that disruption will be as minimal as possible.

Whichever way the camera lenses are pointing, the world will be watching Newport.

* A Newport-born Guardian journalist has defended his portrayal of the city in a piece which provoked anger yesterday, writes Nathan Briant.

Stephen Moss, who grew up in Ringland and whose parents and brother still live in the city, wrote in his editorial piece for yesterday’s newspaper that Newport was a town, that it was “culturally confused” as to whether it was English or Welsh, that it was “industrially depressed” and that its train station was “hideous”.

He told the Argus he meant the piece to be “affectionate” and that he admired many strands of its history, such as its “radical edge”.

And he admitted he had confused Goldie Lookin Chain’s parody of Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) for the original song in the piece but said he stood by the rest of what he had written.

He said classifying Newport as a city was “bogus” because its population is too small to be typically classified as one, and that its identity was “part of a distinctive world centred round the Bristol Estuary.”

The mayor of Newport, Cllr Matthew Evans, said parts of the editorial verged on “crass”.

He added: “As far as I’m concerned, Newportonians are extremely proud of their city.”

While Newport resident Glyn Hall said there were lots of positive things happening.

He said: “A few years ago, if you walked through the town you’d think ‘oh God’.

“There are more buildings going up, the new bus station; there’s plenty of access in the new station.”

Meanwhile, Newport West’s MP Paul Flynn said the portrayal was “woefully out of date”.

He added: “Newport’s location has been firmly anchored in Wales since 1974. The image of deprivation is an old false stereotype.

“Newport has bounced back from heavy industry job losses with high-quality public sector jobs that augur well for a prosperous future.”

Mr Flynn has previously blamed Cardiff-based publicists for exaggerating the city’s role in the forthcoming summit, after national media claimed it was to be there.

And the city’s other MP Jessica Morden said: “As a proud resident of Newport, I really hope that some of those participating get the chance to get out and see what Newport has to offer. This week is a great opportunity to show the world the best of our city.”

A NEWPORT-born Guardian journalist has defended his portrayal of the city in a piece which provoked anger yesterday (Mon), writes NATHAN BRIANT.

Stephen Moss, who grew up in Ringland and whose parents and brother still live in the city, wrote in his editorial piece for yesterday’s newspaper that Newport was a town, that it was “culturally confused” as to whether it was English or Welsh, that it was “industrially depressed” and that its train station was “hideous”.

He told the Argus he meant the piece to be “affectionate” and that he admired many strands of its history, such as its “radical edge”.

And he admitted he had confused Goldie Lookin Chain’s parody of Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) for the original song in the piece but said he stood by the rest of what he had written.

He said classifying Newport as a city was “bogus” because its population is too small to be typically classified as one, and that its identity was “part of a distinctive world centred round the Bristol Estuary.”

The mayor of Newport, Cllr Matthew Evans, said parts of the editorial verged on “crass”.

He added: “As far as I’m concerned, Newportonians are extremely proud of their city.”

While Newport resident Glyn Hall said there were lots of positive things happening.

He said: “A few years ago, if you walked through the town you’d think, oh god. There are more buildings going up, the new bus station; there’s plenty of access in the new station.”

Meanwhile, Newport West’s MP Paul Flynn said portrayal was “woefully out of date”.

He added: “Newport's location is firmly anchored in Wales since 1974. The image of deprivation is an old false stereotype. Newport has bounced back from heavy industry job losses with high quality public sector jobs that augur well for a prosperous future.”

Mr Flynn has previously blamed Cardiff-based publicists for exaggerating the city’s role in the forthcoming summit, after BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Channel 4 news, the Guardian and the Daily Mail claimed it was to be there.

And the city’s other MP Jessica Morden said: “As a proud resident of Newport, I really hope that some of those participating get the chance to get out and see what Newport has to offer. This week is a great opportunity to show the world the best of our city."