Louisville Courier-Journal v. NCAA

[The Rules of Golf]

Seems as if the power-trippers up in Indianapolis had nothing better to do Sunday than monitor Brian Bennett's blog on the Louisville Courier-Journal Web site, then send a lackey to go eject Messr. Bennett from the press facility there in Derby City.

Here's the link to Bennett's blog: http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/bennett/blog.html

Is Louisville getting its lawyer involved?

Isn't this a big story?

How widespread is this? Any other folks doing live blogging from NCAA baseball this past weekend/prior weekends?

[icoverbucks]

The good old NCAA knows how to pick and choose its battles. All of this over college baseball? I could see the Final Four. But this?

[G-Spot]

Because we know masses of college baseball fans would much rather read a blog about the game as opposed to watching it unfold on TV. (Even if it is ESPN)

[BigDog]

I've said it 8,309,192 times: Screw the NCAA.

Rick Reilly said it best a couple years ago in the column about the Division III kid who couldn't compete in nationals because his coach erroneously entered him in the 5000m sted 10000m run and tried to change it four days before the race -- The NCAA can't stop the John Darringers, so they police the jaywalkers instead.

[HejiraHenry]

It's a point of concern for us, as we both have a CWS team and a beat writer who blogs.

It appears to me that this rule has been so inconsistently applied – any other paper bloggers booted from any other sites this weekend? – that it'll never hold up.

But, at least the first warning shot was fired before we get to Omaha.

[G-Spot]

Or what about this....since we know ESPN likes to fellate itself so much with reporting things first.... 'As first reported by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, Sal Paulintonio (sp?), Mike and Mike, Stephen A. Smith....'


Maybe they could just incorporate that on the blogs..

'As first broadcast by ESPN on the family of networks by the worldwide leader and described by Pam Oliver..Joe Ballplayer just hit a home run to put Louisville up 6-0'

[The Rules of Golf]

This is NCAA shenanigans at their lowest.

I just wonder how far the C-J will take it, or if Bennett is "banned" from Rosenblatt?

And yes, Hejira, a certain Super Regional site of which you and I are intimately familiar had a piece of paper circulated with its credentials that left blogging open to much interpretation and also said posting live score/inning updates was OK.

[G-Spot]

It appears to me that this rule has been so inconsistently applied – any other paper bloggers booted from any other sites this weekend? – that it'll never hold up.

The Ole Miss Rivals guy was threatened with ejection.

[imjustagirl2]

Bennett is a class guy, and is great at his job. I applaud the C-J for fighting this.

[The Rules of Golf]

Bennett is a class guy, and is great at his job. I applaud the C-J for fighting this.

Concur. The lawyer's quote was gold. I'll be anxious to read Bozich's story on this tomorrow, to see if it indicates what the C-J did or intends to do.

Because this is clearly a steaming pile of...

[Eagleboy]

One of the comments on that blog had a good point - what would, theoretically, prevent someone from sitting outside the fence or one a nearby roof and blogging?

[silvercharm]

One of the comments on that blog had a good point - what would, theoretically, prevent someone from sitting outside the fence or one a nearby roof and blogging?

Nothing. And it's being done in this tournament...blogging off the television.
This isn't that difficult. If the NCAA stipulates you cannot live blog from the press box, then you can't live blog from the press box. They either have the rights to do it, or have sold the rights to do it. I don't think they're out of line here.

[imjustagirl2]

One of the comments on that blog had a good point - what would, theoretically, prevent someone from sitting outside the fence or one a nearby roof and blogging?

Nothing. And it's being done in this tournament...blogging off the television.
This isn't that difficult. If the NCAA stipulates you cannot live blog from the press box, then you can't live blog from the press box. They either have the rights to do it, or have sold the rights to do it. I don't think they're out of line here.

But that wasn't on the original form for credentials, nor was it ever brought up. If you signed something for your credential, and then they change rules midstream when anyone in the crowd can do the same thing, that's questionable.

[Central-KY-Kid]

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/bennett/2007/06/ejected-and-dejected.html#comments

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/bennett/2007/06/last-entry.html#comments

http://louisville.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2490&tid=95663193&mid=95663193&sid=923&style=2

http://sebaseball.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1025&tid=95663657&mid=95663657&sid=1048&style=2

[The Rules of Golf]

I'm with you, ijag. And if the credential wording was different at different sites -- I can personally attest to that -- that's an issue. Misapplication of this will be the NCAA's biggest at-fault issue.

If they gather us all around Thursday at Omaha and say "Blog and Die", then we'll all know that if we blog, we get kicked out, whether we like it or not. But since that speech was given to varying degrees -- or mostly, none at all -- this weekend, the NCAA is clearly in the wrong here.

As for whether the NCAA is wrong in the merit of its argument, hell yes, it is. Reporters' blogs IN NO WAY detract from people watching ESPN, listening on networks, following on gametracker, etc.

In the newfound age of the 24/7 news cycle, where (especially at my shop) we are putting things online as news stories as they happen, where do you draw the line? Does the NCAA say the only time newspapers can report on things is when the dead trees hit the driveway in the morning? Does the NCAA say papers' Web sites must wait 15 minutes after games are over to report what simply happened? Does it say anything in between? Do we care?

And then this: Let's say something happens within a game that becomes news itself, and you work for an organization dedicated to breaking news online. Player X breaks school's all-time hits record, attendance record broken -- you get the gist. Is it not "permitted" to be reported by reputable news outlets until the umpire calls the final out?

If you side with the NCAA on these questions, I hope you have a hefty supply of Unisom on hand so that you may sleep tonight.

[Freelance Hack]

Hate to see this happen to Brian. As mentioned previously, he's a class guy and a strong reporter. Hopefully, he'll still be able to go to Rosenblatt.

What's the difference between this and live blogging during the NCAA basketball tournament, which Brian did as well?

[slappy4428]

or... if every reporter accepts the credential, goes up to the press box before the first game, then walks out en masse prior to it... they are left with no one to promote their product except for  ESPN...  Not that every, let alone any, would do that...

[buckweaver]

If you put sports on radio ... [/powers-that-be, 1920s]

If you put sports on TV ... [/powers-that-be, 1950s]

If you put sports on the Internet, it will detract from the live event and people won't pay attention/show up/give us money/grab their ankles. [/powers-that-be, 2000s]

Go fuck yourself, NCAA.

[occasionally]

Of course, what isn't mentioned in all of this is the C-J is a bunch of bandwagon jumpers who never consistently covered U of L baseball until the NCAA Tournament. Bennett admits as much in the blog.

[Freelance Hack]

Of course, what isn't mentioned in all of this is the C-J is a bunch of bandwagon jumpers who never consistently covered U of L baseball until the NCAA Tournament. Bennett admits as much in the blog.

What does that have to do with anything?

[donaugust]

And how different is that than most college baseball in big cities?

[Lucas Wiseman]

The NCAA should embrace any coverage it can get of college baseball. The last thing they should be doing is kicking any reporter out the press box, especially for something as trivial as this. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days.

[MileHigh]

I suspect the edict will be at Omaha as someone mentioned above: If you blog here, you're gone.

[FishHack76]

After reading this thread and reading the NFL story on the front page, I wonder if this is a burgeoning Supreme Court battle.
In other words, who has more rights?
Is it the newspaper and their freedom to report? Or is it the league/organization who has a vested interest in getting people to their websites or not having their coverage usurped. Newspapers obviously have a similarly vested interest in getting people to their websites.
So I wonder who wins out in this case?

[HejiraHenry]

Of course, what isn't mentioned in all of this is the C-J is a bunch of bandwagon jumpers who never consistently covered U of L baseball until the NCAA Tournament. Bennett admits as much in the blog.

There was no reason to, was there? The team has never - never - won an NCAA tourney game until this year.

That's not a compelling case for coverage in advance of this magical tourney run.