A Courier-Journal sports reporter had his media credential revoked and was ordered to leave the press box during the NCAA baseball super-regional yesterday because of what the NCAA alleged was a violation of its policies prohibiting live Internet updates from its championship events.
Gene McArtor, a representative of the NCAA baseball committee, approached C-J staffer Brian Bennett at the University of Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium in the bottom of the fifth inning in the U of L-Oklahoma State game. McArtor told him that blogging from an NCAA championship event “is against NCAA policies. We’re revoking the credential and need to ask you to leave the stadium.”
“It’s clearly a First Amendment issue,” Ivory said. “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.”
U of L circulated a memo on the issue from Jeramy Michiaels, the NCAA’s manager of broadcasting, before Friday’s first super-regional game. It said blogs are considered a “live representation of the game” and that any blog containing action photos or game reports would be prohibited.
You can say “blogging is a live representation of the game” all you want, but in reality and in English, only a live representation of the game is a live representation of the game. Blogging is simply reporting…
I’m not sure what the NCAA does or does not have the right to do… But I’m certain that they are not required to allow any reporter all the access they want because they are no the government… and while Congress may pass no law, the NCAA can make up whatever BS they like…
But I have to ask… How many of these college basketball games are played at facilities that exist in whole or in part due to public funds? How many or these schools in these games are state operated schools? I’m just thinking out loud here, but maybe it doesn’t matter what rules the NCAA invents… Perhaps there is an argument to be made that there is a greater public interest that overrides the NCAA’s interest, and that since education’s interest is education, and not exclusive rights to games played by students, maybe the NCAA can get some perspective and shut the fuck up. If even a dollar of my tax money is being wasted on sports, I want unfettered access by reporters to every aspect of the game.
That’s just me.
It’s basketball, so I don’t really care unless there is some Constitutional litigation potential in it for me to watch 🙂
Just imagine what they’d have done to him if he’d been twittering!
Maybe if he had twittered he would not have been caught, it would have looked like he was text’g.
Hmmm, makes one think.
How to re-create a baseball game on radio.
1. Obtain recordings of crowd noise, cheers, boos, sound of bat hitting ball and maybe some other specific ball-park sounds. Trains, boats and planes depending on park.
2. Send someone to the ballpark. Have them call the station after each inning with game score card info plus any odd events like “chickens on the field.”
3. Start your broadcast 30 minutes later than the game starts. Tell audience they are listing to a re-creation.
4. Sportscaster pretends to be at ballpark, describes action from phone report. sound guy adds appropriate sound effects.
5. After game tell audience that they have been listening to a re-creation. (They will still think they heard it live anyway.)
To do the above you would still need permission of the league and teams. The blogger got caught fair and square.
Perry
The sports reporter at the NCAA tourney is no different than a news reporter covering breaking news. The NCAA is probably trying to protect broadcast rights.
It’s really a First Amendment issue and protecting the public right to know.
Perry described an excellent situation in post no. 4 They used to do baseball games like that.