I saw a post by Sylvain Carle, a blogger who will be covering the Web 2.0 Expo as a member of the media. It caught my attention because I’ve been spending some time recently looking at how bloggers can get media accreditation so they attend press conferences, conferences, seminars, etc. This has involved inquiries to the Canadian Association of Journalists, which provides photo ID press accreditation if you have the following:
- CAJ membership; proof of citizenship, $30, a passport photo, and a letter of accreditation from your employer or assigning editor OR three (3) samples of published or broadcast work from the previous year and two letters of professional reference.
Why shouldn’t I be able to write a letter of accreditation given b5media is an online media company that has a stable of 120 writers/bloggers who, among other things, report on the news? There’s really no reason why any of our bloggers shouldn’t be able to get media accreditation for any conference or news event.
Given the concept of bloggers as journalists is just starting to emerge so media accreditation to bloggers is being handled, for the most part, on a case by case basis. Some conferences have no problem offering media accreditation while others don’t offer it all. For conference organizers, particularly tech events, the major challenge is many people attending the event are bloggers so if you considers bloggers to journalists, then all or most of these people should be able to get accreditation.
Of course, you can’t run a conference if you do it this way. So what do you do? Well, you probably limit the number of media slots and then determine who you want to attend. After all, a conference is a private event so you can invite who you want. If you think the New York Times is going to provide better coverage than the Wawa-Algoma News Review, you grant a media pass to the NYT and politely turn down the WANR. It’s really becomes a case by case kind of thing. For example, why wouldn’t Nortel let me into their annual meeting given I write the only blog entirely devoted to Nortel.
As bloggers gain more of a following and blogs are seen as credible places where people get their news and information, more bloggers will be able to make a strong case to receive media accreditation. In theory, any b5media blogger should be able to get media accreditation as long as their blog covers a particular topic on a regular basis, and provides readers with the latest news, insight and opinion.
15 Comments
Hey
Your All About Nortel link is broken!
Mat.
In theory….
I’ll start with: Good journalist spell and grammar check their writing.
Hmm,
I noticed a lack attention to detail in your article. There are two poorly written sentences, missing punctuation, and a misspelling. Perhaps Nortel does not want to grant access to people cannot even write a short article well. I can honestly say the quality of this article is far below anything I have read in any trade magazine. This article encompasses my total experience with your writing and I have to say I will not seek it out in the future.
While I am a mathematician not a writer, it *seems* to me that there are two important facets of journalism. Journalists research and analyze information then present it in a clear, concise, and articulate manner. Your inability to perform the latter, gives me concern about your ability to do the former.
Good luck,
SJB
SJB,
Sorry to see you go.
Mark
You need to submit articles showing that you will appropriately kiss the right ass and have absolutely no intentions of thinking for yourself.
Only then, can you hope to become a member of the mainstream press.
A blogg is not much above a bulletin board system (BBS) from the 80’s and 90’s. Any one can slap one together thus don’t have that much worth.
Bloggers are not journalists and should not be treated as such. They are just people with computers, anyone with a computer.
It can be hard enough for aspiring newspapers and magazines to get recognized as real news sources, why should the process made more diffcult by average people trying to pretend to be a real news source?
A blog is not real news.
The previous commenter has evidently decided not to proof-read his or her own work. Go SJB. Something about glass houses should apply here.
I’m not sorry to see SJB go.
And based on his stick-up-the-butt comment, I won’t be seeking him out in the future either.
Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed SJB was a man. After all, I’m a member of the Word Police too and I’m a woman. BTW, Mark’s name is not “Hmm.”
How elitist… blecch! SJB obviously missed another “important facet” of journalism – a proofreader. Ought we imagine most journalists have one? Perhaps mathematicians don’t need them. Oh, that’s right – mathematicians’ work needs no checking – not.
Agree completely – anyone who thinks “professional” journalists are ipso facto bloggers is likely not familiar with the journalism of Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, etc
Just stopping by through Slashdot. It’s funny how that other blogger slammed you for being a blogger, when you’ve worked in the media for so long.
wow. people have short memories. it seems that it was only a few short months ago that i was pitching mark on potential stories for a small canadian publication called the National Post…
Ed
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