It is a difficult balancing act for organisers, and to be honest, I am not positive anyone really knows where the balance should be.
Media generally have very strict rules by which to conduct themselves, and there are plenty (long, long list) of can, and cannot dos - both during and post-event.
I have been at many events as media and have not been allowed to take stills or video from the media box, yet just a few metres away from me are non-media filming the whole thing and taking snapshots with a good DSLR and covered long lens.
It took that particular event two years, and a lot of moaning from some media for them to relax the rules slightly and allow media to take stills from the media box and there were still plenty of restrictions. Still no video though which is understandable.
That is just one example, at one event, and each event is very different.
I have watched a fair bit of the Olympics and there seems to be plenty of good looking cameras in the crowd, which the TV cameras always seem to pick up on (at least once).
Anyway, whatever it is you are going to watch. Enjoy.