Courtesy of Major League Baseball.
This article from The Cincinatti Enquirer about limitations that Major League Baseball is putting on credentialed press caught my eye.
But this year came important differences: photo galleries could no longer include more than seven pictures. Web sites are limited to no more than two minutes of audio or video from any game and that content can stay up for no more than seven consecutive days.
Of lesser concern to the sports editors, Cherwa said, is a provision limiting bloggers to posting less frequently than once per half-inning.
Similarly, the NCAA has also put in restrictions on how often reporters can post live to their blogs during games.
Let's think about this, under these conditions why on earth would you even bother credentialing yourself? I've had friends post photo galleries of games onto Facebook with more than seven pictures or two minutes of video, and of course that stays up longer than seven consecutive days.
I understand that live blogging and instant updates can infringe on a leagues deal for exclusivity with a particular media outlet, but the internet changes all of that. Any body with a ticket and a cell phone can be live blogging a game, press credential or no press credential.
Or a laptop with wireless internet access. Or say, a laptop and a video camera. Or even, a laptop, a video camera, and an acccount (free) with ustream.tv then I can stream the game live! Or perhaps I have a Nokia N95 and I can stream live video with just my cell phone!
What are they going to do? Ban laptops and cameras and cell phones from sporting events?
At this point, I assume the perks to being credentialed press, especially for photographers and videographers (court side, field side access) outweigh these restrictions, but for how long?
For live bloggers and sports writers, what benefit does being credentialed give them at all? Access to players for interviews perhaps? Or being able to attend the post game press conference? How long will those perks outweigh the restrictions?
Comments
Dr. E #
Commented at 2:45 p.m. on March 8, 2010
Interviews, yes. You don't get those with just a ticket.
Full sports stats info from the team's PR group is another.
And finally: Your ticket, as a fan, is a contract. In theory, the ticket tells you the terms of your attendance at a game, which in the past has meant you can't be a reporter, essentially.
Clearly, arenas aren't stopping some of the Facebooking going on. They can't. But they're going after the full-blown, live bloggers...
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