WaPo story on web "journalists" recruiting

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/24/AR2009082401795.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009082401807


Interesting story, methinks.

 

Wow this is pretty nuts. It really begs the question of the media "credential." These days, there are so many sports websites out there and many with such a gray area about whether it's really "media" or not. What is a press credential worth in 2009?

I recently went to an NFL training camp for some freelance stories I had picked up. I was amazed at how easy it was to get credentialed. I could've told them I was from the Taliban and they would've given me a credential.

 

I get to cover Redskins camp?

Excellent, dude!

 

I love stories that show a lot of work.

Thanks for the link, Bristol.

 

Great story...thanks for the link. This quote from Bob Gibbons bugged me, though:

This sounds like a classic case of someone who's gotten inside and wants to lock the door behind him. Anyone whose search for a solution starts with "how do you legislate?" is probably someone with a terrible idea.

 

I suspect this story will send chills through the various fanboy sites. They'll be falling all over themselves trying to claim they never seek to influence recruits' minds.

 

A friend of mine who follows all this journalist/media/coverage stuff suggests that journalists have a level of expertise and skill and that we need to separate ourselves from the riff raff by getting licensed. How that would work, I don't know but it seems to me that's becoming a good idea.

 

No offense to your friend, but it has to be said: This is a terrible, terrible, terrible idea.

 

Well, maybe so, but I think it would be cool to have a badge and be licensed to report.

 

I think places just need to be more careful about who they grant credentials to. Like I said before, when I went to training camp recently, nobody ever checked out the publication I was there working for, never questioned it, nothing. I could've said anything. They were handing out press passes like candy. And once people like the ones in the article are given access to athletes, there's no telling what kind of stuff could go down.

 

Some countries have done things like this this (Brazil is the first example of a non-authoritarian one that leaps to mind, though I think they may've repealed or altered their policy on this in the last few years).

It strikes me as the first step down the slippery slope toward becoming a mouthpiece for Big Brother, who doles out the licenses. I'd prefer too much Chaos to too much Control.

 

I don't know.
Gibbons has a point and it is only a matter of time before a school is investigated and put on probation because of a recruiting writer.