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Taking advantage with press credentials

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by JR119, Jan 4, 2012.

  1. BobSacamano

    BobSacamano Member

    Ha! Glad I'm not alone. My father asks me to get him credentials all the time. "Just tell them I'm your camera man or something," he says. Like he doesn't know I'm a writer with no need for a camera man. Used to be a joke, but starting to sound more serious over time. He even knows my process, in that credential requests come from a superior and not a friendly, high-five relationship with team PR.
     
  2. finishthehat

    finishthehat Active Member

    Andy Rooney had a spot in the press area in the Super Bowl I covered a while back. Maybe he did a cranky piece on the experience, but I didn't see it.
     
  3. gravehunter

    gravehunter Member

    Some organizations could do a better job at policing who gets credentialed and who doesn't, though it is easier said than done. A few years ago, a couple of guys who were Diamondbacks fans wrote a letter to the team's PR department asking for credentials. They claimed to be reporters from the paper I was working with at the time and signed our sports ed's name to the request. When playoff time rolled around, they figured they would try it again (still with the Diamondbacks). However, one of our columnists also submitted a request so the team got two requests from our paper (one from the columnist, the other from these two yahoos). Diamondbacks PR called our sports ed to find out if the paper had submitted two credential requests, thus busting the two dummies.
     
  4. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    I get those too, from coaches who know we won't be going to state and offer to send photos. Why do I suspect, since they haven't sent a photo all year, they just want another coach on the mats?
     
  5. TheHacker

    TheHacker Member

    I think that's the key here ... the PR/SID people being vigilant about who is on press row. If they see something out of whack, they should call the editor at the place in question and find out who was staffing the game. If freeloaders are in the way and causing a problem nobody should be shy about addressing it.

    On the high school level, the state association where I am has gotten really good at weeding out the pretenders. There are still a few hangers on who know the state officials who end up on press row, but mostly they don't let people in unless they're legitimately working press.
     
  6. leo1

    leo1 Active Member

    the second one.

    yeah he crowded everyone out of their seats and just was an annoying person in general. his obesity somehow made him more annoying. we're not talking about a fat guy or someone who meets the definition of obese just because. we're talking about a dude as big as one of those fake sumo suits. or maybe i'm biased against severely obese people but only if they're really annoying in the first place. he also continually mentioned his latest problems to everyone.
     
  7. SockPuppet

    SockPuppet Active Member

    I have a term for people who take up space for no reason: Swingin' dicks.
     
  8. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    Used to have a guy who worked for me at a suburban daily who was the worst abuser of credentials.

    He'd show up at the local NBA team's games, grab all of the swag (guides, any giveaways -- matter of fact, would DEMAND that he get a trinket or whatever giveaway they had that night), eat the food, whine & moan about his seat if it wasn't on the baseline and then get up and walk out before the buzzer.

    He'd "write a column" that was really nothing more than what an ESPN flunkie would write for play-by-play with no quotes.

    We eventually yanked his credential privileges, because I was worried he was going to get our publication blackballed.
     
  9. fossywriter8

    fossywriter8 Well-Known Member

    The Ohio High School Athletic Association has cracked down on these kind of things the past few years. In the case of newspapers, I know they've asked for copies of what was published after the event to make sure those who were there actually worked.
    I've never actually witnessed abuses, but I've heard stories from other writers in the past.
     
  10. Flip Wilson

    Flip Wilson Well-Known Member

    When I was SID-ing, I got tons of requests whenever we played our in-state rival. Very few requests for any other games. I got a request via fax (yeah, it was back in the day) that asked me to reply via fax, not by phone. That sounded fishy, so I called the paper and talked to the sports editor. Told him what I had gotten and the guy's name. His reply: "What's he done now?" I left the requesting guy an envelope at will call, looked just like the envelopes all the legit media got. Only in his was a one-page note telling him he'd been busted and he was welcome to purchase tickets at the ticket office. Never heard from him again.
     
  11. Raiders

    Raiders Guest


    Here come de judge! :D
     
  12. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Awesome.
     
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