Sunday, November 4, 2012

Who Exactly is the Press?

Before the Internet, we didn't run into this problem all that often because not everyone considered themselves part of the press, but now with hundreds of thousands of blogs, more and more people consider themselves part of the press. However, bloggers sometimes run into a problem when they want to cover an event.
Lake Oswego, Oregon allows journalists to sit in on their executive session meetings, but does not allow them to report on the meeting, so why was a blogger denied from entering? Lake Oswego drafted a policy to determine the legitimacy of a journalist, however the steps one would have to go through would take far too long to accomplish before a meeting.
In order to receive a press pass, you must regularly report on the Lake Oswego City Council, have multiple people working for your publication, consist of 25 percent news, register with a government organization and report continuously. Right away this separates many bloggers who may have a large following, but run their blog by themselves. What's to say a one-man-band doesn't have as good reporting as a blog that hires many people?

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