Slashdot Mirror
Bloggers Now Eligible For Press Passes In NYC
RobotRunAmok writes "The New York City Police Department announced Tuesday that bloggers and others who publish on the Web will now be eligible for press credentials. The move comes as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2008 by three Web journalists who were denied press passes. In New York, journalists with press passes are typically allowed to cross police barricades at public events. 'Events that will qualify include city-sponsored activity — like a press conference or parade — as well as emergencies where the city has set up do-not-cross lines. The proposal also allows inexperienced journalists to obtain single-use press passes. Longtime civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel, who represented the journalists who sued, says the city will now decide who a journalist is by looking at the type of work they do, and not the organization they write for.'"
... has made the press pass obsolete.
This is starting to become the new form of journalism. The "big guys" like TV and radio owners are starting to lay off their full time staff, and replacing them with people who can report, record, and edit their own pieces who get paid by the number of reports they generate that make air.
To the average news viewer, this is almost transparent... so the standard shouldn't be "I work for CNN," but "CNN uses my iReports regularly."
I post opinions, rumors, announcements, and other "media-like" information right here on this very site in the form of comments. Unfortunately, because I don't submit stories, enter journals, or edit summaries (I don't think the /. editors do either) I am not considered a journalist.
Despite the time and effort I put into making sure my posts are factual, interesting, engaging, inciteful, and sometimes funny, my work (and I don't hesitate to call it work) here as a active contributor to the discussions surrounding each story is like dust in the wind, dude.
1. Have covered such events in the past.
2. Have a measurable audience somehow... be it web, print, TV, radio, etc.
Ah, the age old question..
How can I get a job without experience?
And how can I get experience without a job?
Let's add an apprenticeship rule... let people who have a press pass bring in an intern/trainee so they can learn the job. Either that, or have people write about police events without the pass, and then one day when they walk up to the line hand them their pass.
1. So, in order to cover such an event, you must have a Press Pass, and in order to get a Press Pass, you must have covered such an event.
2. In order to have an audience, you must get the news. In order to get the news, you've got to have an audience.
3. In order to get a Press Pass, you have to have covered such an event without one. Which pretty much means going past police barricades or some similar illegal activity. So, pretty much be definition, you'll have misbehaved at a previous event.
In summary, your requirements reduce to:
1. No-one will be issued Press Passes.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Ah so lets limit it to an elite and their friends.
Not friends with the right person?
Not born into the right family?
Sucks to be you!
What's been missing from the coverage the David Patterson press conferences has been the shrewd, insightful experience and reportage from the OMG ponies! perspective. The mainstream media has been suppressing that important voice since, like, forever. Mean people suck! Also, that young guy Aaron on America Idol - he would so make a great sparkly vampire someday.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
They editorialize.
Since when did "news" mean copying and pasting a press release? "Editorializing" is nothing more than asking questions and trying to answer them.
If newspapers actually did this then there'd be no reason to go to blogs.
If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
One of the sports blogs that I regularly read, which will remain unmentioned for fear of the Slashdot effect, actually convinced the NFL to give him a press pass to the NFL Scouting Combine. Since I started reading his blog in '08, the writer has ingratiated himself with the local* beat guys, get an article published in the New York Times, and built a rapport with members of the national sports media and NFL Players. When it counts, he puts in just as much work as the beat writers and his analysis is often a step ahead of theirs, even with less access. I have absolutely no problem with giving him a press pass.
Nate Silver, from fivethirtyeight.com, also provides excellent political commentary. His primary work is with polls, and we was able to correctly predict 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 presidential election. He has also contributed to ESPN, Slate, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and the New York Sun. Again, I hardly have an issue with him receiving a press pass.
As stated in the article, there are requirements in place for attaining a press pass. I'm sure this will be a work in progress, but opening up the news reporting mechanism in this country can hardly be a bad thing.
*He lives in New York, but covers the Green Bay(Wisconsin) Packers. He gets regular commentary from writers in Green Bay and Milwaukee, the two largest markets that cover the team.
But then I realized the cable was blue, so I only gave it one star. I hate blue.