With Web 2.0 blogging becoming the mainstream news network, once again we are facing questions about who is considered a “journalist” or “professional” writer, and given the same access to sporting and press conference venues.The news item below about bloggers being banned from the Mavericks locker room caught my eye because as bloggers I feel we are a unique breed of reporter that is on the edge of the web 2.0 revolution, and not yet fully credentialed by more traditional “press” corps… Or are we?

The Democratic and Republican Conventions have admitted Bloggers as credentialed Press Corps since 2004, although the accomplishment is still in 2008 viewed with some disdain by television and hard copy news media reporters who consider the bloggers more gossipy than newsworthy.

Tom McPhail, a journalism professor at the University of Missouri, questions blogger’s journalistic credentials. ”They’re certainly not committed to being objective. They thrive on rumor and innuendo,” McPhail says. Bloggers ‘’should be put in a different category, like ‘pretend’ journalists.” This seems to be agreed upon by Congress, who does not consider Bloggers or online news reporting agencies “Journalists” in the Free Flow of Information Act H.R.581 which was designed to protect journalists from having to reveal their sources. “Journalist” is defined as:

A) an entity that disseminates information by print, broadcast, cable, satellite, mechanical, photographic, electronic, or other means and that–

(i) publishes a newspaper, book, magazine, or other periodical;

(ii) operates a radio or television broadcast station (or network of such stations), cable system, or satellite carrier, or a channel or programming service for any such station, network, system, or carrier; or

(iii) operates a news agency or wire service;

(B) a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such an entity; or

(C) an employee, contractor, or other person who gathers, edits, photographs, records, prepares, or disseminates news or information for such an entity.

Bloggers, unless they are under the protection of a major publication or broadcast company, are not included.

As web 2.0 is transforming the way our Global community shares news and information, transforming it from a static “News reporter on camera reading the news” format, to an interactive global community that shares, discusses, posts and votes on what is or is not relevant as news, we must take a close look at what the definition of a “Journalist” actually is.

Wikipedia defines it this way:

“A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people.

Reporters are one type of journalist. They create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet.

Depending on the context, the term journalist also includes various types of editors and visual journalists, such as photographers, graphic artists, and page designers.”

Well now.
The Great Wiki has spoken!

~ Erika, Your Tech-Goddess and Wiki-approved Journalist.

Reference: Dallas Mavericks owner bounced bloggers from his team’s locker room. Cuban is being shortsighted.