Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
RECENT POSTS
- Mars Rover: Stuck in the Mud
- Tranquility Base
- NASA's Ares 1-X Test: The View From Above
- The Yes Men
- The Missing Link -- Not
- Moon Crash Kicked Up Plume After All
- Moon Crash: Where's the Water?
- Green Apple: Firm is Latest to Leave U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Recovery.gov: Your Tax Dollars at Work
- Climate: Power Companies Quit U.S Chamber of Commerce
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
Joy in Mudville
June 12, 2007 6:01 PM
I don't get to do a lot of baseball in a technology column, but this is really another tale of the collision between new and old media. A reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Brian Bennett, was asked to leave a college baseball game (University of Louisville vs. Oklahoma State, in the AP photo to the left) because he was blogging live from the press box.
According to Cory Bergman's Lost Remote blog, "the NCAA maintains blogs are considered a 'live representation' of the game. 'In a nutshell, we asked the blogger repeatedly not to cover it in that manner, because it violates the policy, and he continued, and his credential was revoked,' said NCAA spokesman Bob Williams."
The newspaper says it's a First Amendment issue, and most telling is a quote in their piece on the matter from Courier-Journal executive editor Bennie L. Ivory:
"This is part of the evolution of how we present the news to our readers. It's what we did during the Orange Bowl. It's what we did during the NCAA basketball tournament. It's what we do." The story, by reporter Rick Bozich, is HERE.
Does Bennett's blog conflict with the NCAA's broadcast rights? Who's in the right here? As Bennett himself notes, "What strikes me as really strange is that someone watching ESPN across the street could have blogged every single pitch without a problem."
One comment posted to Bergman's blog: "So wait, they kicked him out of a public facility… funded by taxpayer dollars?"
Here's Bennett's blog. You have to scroll down; he's trying to move on to other things.
June 12, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
If anyone other than the players and their families knew there were NCAA baseball games going on this would be more of a story. But it's not the BCS or March Madness so no one pays much attention. You might think the NCAA would like more publicity for the non revenue sports. Then again, it's run by the people that run the NCAA. Never mind!
Posted by: Dave Sedgwick | Jun 12, 2007 11:09:12 PM
To my way of thinking, live blogging is not a "live representation" of a sporting event. It doesn't meet the definition in the broadest sense of the word, since it's the blogger's report of what he perceives is happening in real time, but with a slight time delay as he writes and sends his message to others. I suppose it could be argued that a live blog is similar to a radio broadcast, but it simply does not have the nearly-instantaneous reception by the audience. I'd think that the NCAA would be pleased to have anyone cover their baseball games, not just "traditional" reporters. As Dave Sedgwick said, though, this IS the NCAA, an organization whose ideas are firmly rooted in the past.
Posted by: chuck | Jun 13, 2007 8:42:52 AM
Will this turn into a 1st Ammendment law suit? Will threre be ACLU involvement? That's the last thing anyone needs if for the ACLU to stick their uppity legal noses into this issue. However, that is what the NCAA has invited. The NCAA should know better
Posted by: Hunter Hutchinson | Jun 13, 2007 11:41:16 AM
Post a comment
