Bloggers kicked out of a blogging event. Ironic…don’t you think?
Published May 3rd, 2007 in Uncategorized.Yesterday we received a copy of a press release inviting the press to attend ETV’s weekly show with Senator Glenn McConnell.
The press release stated:
This week’s SCETV Senate teleconference hosted by President Pro Tem McConnell on Thursday, May 3rd, at 9:30 a.m., will host Senator Jake Knotts, R - Lexington and Senator Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson as they discuss how blogs impact the legislative process.
We encourage you to personally attend this live program in the President Pro Tem’s Office on the 2nd Floor of the State House off the main lobby near the front door.
We go to a lot of press conferences and other press events and we are usually treated very well by those holding the event and members of the press. But today was different.
We decided to attend this event because it was about the impact of blogs on the legislative process and well…we are a blog. Even more important, we are a blog that covers politics and we very frequently discuss the impact of new media on politics. If anyone should be at this event IT’S US.
But when we got there, we were kicked out because we are not “credentialed press.â€Â That’s right. They kicked the bloggers out of an event about bloggers. Ironic? Stupid? We think so. To say we are insulted would be a HUGE understatement.
Here’s our response:
I would also like to extend an invite to those members of the New (and even Traditional) Media to discuss this with me personally. Please e-mail me a info@adailyshot.com with your contact information and I’ll get back to you.
40 Responses to “Bloggers kicked out of a blogging event. Ironic...don't you think?”
- 1 Pingback on May 3rd, 2007 at 8:33 pm
- 2 Pingback on May 4th, 2007 at 6:06 am
- 3 Pingback on May 5th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Thank you guys for subjecting me to watching that. That was 20 minutes of my life I won’t get back. Whatever that was, it was not a discussion about the New Media and its impact. It was a couple legislators who heard from their staff about something THEy read on a blog. They should have let you in. Someone needed to help those guys.
What an outrage! These guys kick out bloggers while discussing bloggers impact? The blogging community should show them some impact, by shoving it their face.
They should have asked some of the political beat writers for the “real” media whether blogs impact political news. Why else would Warthen, Hoover, et al. have their own blogs?
I am certain the answer would be yes!
This is absurd. It was a show about bloggers. How are you not going to let bloggers into the event when you are letting credentialed press in?
Did they really liken blogs to “a stork dropping something from the sky?”
They just demonstrated just how out of touch they are. Amazing. I guess we should hand it to them to for having the nuts to wax eloquent about something that they know nothing about.
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
Kicking you out was DEAD WRONG!
I don’t see what the big deal is with letting bloggers attend a show that the rest of the media is allowed to go to. These Senators complain that blogs distort the truth, but how can you expect them to provide an acurate story if you don’t give them access to the information.
It is becoming clearer. At the end of the video, you see this was put on by the SC Press Association, who was the same outfit that talked smack about bloggers in the State’s article about the same subject some time ago.
Now they are holding an event about blogging relevance and locking out bloggers? Sounds like they are scared to me.
I also heard they were lobbying the SCGOP to keep bloggers from getting press passes to the debate.
It’s like rain on a sunny day. It the good advice ETV and State Government should take. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think
If that isn’t the most stupid thing i’ve heard all day. Why in the world would SC ETV send a press release out, and then not let you guys in the door. I think they’re scared. Really scared of letting blogs do their thing. If i were them i’d have every blog in the state in there. GET WITH IT!
SCPA is scared - hmmm…interesting. We are going to research this one.
agree that the SCPA is too old and too slow to keep up, so they are just going to try to shut ya’ll down.
I sure hope all the real press people who also read blogs, and write them, weigh in on this. If you think this was accidental that the whole show was a denunciation of blogging run by the SCPA then you are crazy.
Not saying SCETV is anything of a major news outlet, but i’d bet they really didn’t think it’d be a big deal. show about blogs on thurs morning, who would’ve thought it’d have people showing up.
It would be nice to have more details on this as we re-visit the ETV budget in the closing weeks of the session. This is simply wrong and, worse, arrogant. Perhaps not to be unexpected from a government agency.
When I think of the SCPA versus the blogging community, a line from Taledega Nights comes to mind:
“Chip, I’m gonna come at you like a spider monkey!”
This is an unfortunate event, unfortunate for the main stream media that is. The Fourth Estate is supposed to be about freedom of speech, correct?
The S.C. Press Association is trying to maintain an monopoly on coverage of government affairs. You can’t be a member of the Press Association if you do not print you news on paper.
The press is often inaccurate and baised just like bloggers. The only difference I see is that ya’ll don’t waste a bunch of paper when you publish.
It’s time bloggers started to get some respect. It’s time for them to be able to have access to all government meetings, just like the rest of the public.
You may have just given the first true South Carolina online web based editorial! In the immortal words of Jeff Spicolli “AWESOME…TOTALLY AWESOME!!!”. Today, could have been one of the most important days in South Carolina history for all of us: the bloggers, the readers and those who are covered by the bloggers…but alas not today. But you were still able to make today relevant on many levels.
By the way, are you surprised that Glenn McConnell and Jake Knotts would really have a meaningful discussion involving technology?
Cheers.
ETV is another waste of taxpayers dollars. They are trying to be “exclusive”? Last time I checked me and every other taxpayer is funding their operation including you and other bloggers. This isn’t NBC or Fox News, this is the government trying to be “exclusive”.
The SPCA is just afraid of their business being taken by bloggers. The more popular you are the less people subscribe and read their newspapers. News Flash: IT ALREADY IS HAPPENING
This might be a good story if it were true.
But it’s not.
Neither the senators nor SCETV kicked the blogger out. And he knows it.
It might inflame people, and feed the ego of the blogger, but it also spreads a lot of bad information.
And so this post is a case study in what is wrong witih political blogging.
Mark G., my name is Tim Cameron, what is your full name? I realize you might not be willing to give your name, but based on you comment I’m going to assume you either work for or are a member of the S.C. Press Association.
You might try to deny that this ever happened, but it did…just like the Holocaust.
I would be happy to debate you in person on a YouTube segment, but you probably can’t based on your affiliation with the SCPA.
Unlike you, I put my name on stuff I write. You should really try it sometimes…it gives a little thing we like to call credibility to your argument.
Obviously you don’t read this website. Everybody who reads this blog knows who I am, and if you knew me you would know I don’t make stuff like this up.
P.S. MARK YOU REALLY NEED A HUG.
P.S.S. If I could make up something ironic as this, I would quit my job and start writing novels because they would sell like Stephen King
Hi Tim. I get plenty of hugs, but thanks anyway.
It’s interesting that most people on this site use pen names, and yet you only attack the one guy who disagrees with you.
I don’t work for the press association. Is it inconceivable to you that someone could disagree with you based on the facts and a healthy skepticism? Shesh, I only checked this site out because I saw the issue mentioned on The State’s blog.
PS– The holocaust analogy is really tacky. Any way, good luck.
Calling all SC bloggers; let us meet in Columbia soon, this is already in the works so please forward your site name, real name, and cell to the shot and or SCHotline as soon as possible.
~Jeffrey Sewell
PS…Great comments and keep in mind we drive the web traffic to the MSM sites that keep them in business and relevant. Look forward to meeting with you all very soon, stay tuned!
Jeffrey - Great idea. And thanks for the shout out on your site today.
Why is the press association so scare of us? Too much money out of their pockets?
Perhaps they are scared for good reason.
Knotts & McConnell are “off the reservation” Republicans. They are out of touch with the voters. They oppose bill H.3212 and they need to feel the heat from all of us. They killed the same bill in 2005 and they need to feel pain at the polls for snubbing the core Republican values of greater freedoms and smaller government.
As an uninvited blogger, all I can say, dadgummit, there they go again. Jeffrey is right. Let’s meet and form our own organization.
Also, Mark G. the reason why I accused you of working for the SCPA is because you talk like you were in the room when this happened.
Mark G. I don’t take offense to people who disagree with me. I love to debate. But when somebody who doesn’t even have the courage to write their full name calls me a liar I will call that person out.
Tim, this is not a big issue for me. I never saw this site before, and was simply directed here out of curiosity from The State blog.
But what i see here are bloggers talking to bloggers.
Here’s a non-bloggers perspective:
The difference between a blogger and a journallist, in my humble opinion, is not the “press pass.” It is the professionalism.
A journalist tries to get the facts before publishing; tries to provide context; provides attribution to quotes and facts. Even though it varies, from Fox to CNN to NY Times, there is still a broad standard they all try to maintain.
Bloggers are all over the spectrum. Some are good– like the Politico I saw during the debate last night. But many bloggers just rant, without the facts. Some print rumors that are completely irresponsible. And from what I see, many bloggers have a kind of petulance and impertinence that is unprofessional.
To me, in my opinion, you were angry, and rushed to blog without facts or context. Which is fine– that’s your right. And maybe it’s what some people want in a blog. But it’s not journalism. And so you shouldn’t expect to treated as a journaist.
No offense, but this type of blogging just doesn’t interest me, so I won’t be back. But I sincerely wish you good luck.
You priase the Politico as being such a great website, but they got a huge story wrong. Journalist Ben Smith from the Politico reported that Sen. John Edwards was dropping out of the race because his wife had cancer. Of course we now know this is not true. Journalist sometimes do get facts wrong, and so do bloggers. But if you look at my website as a whole, it is very accurate when it comes to my reporting. Also you will see that I regularly hyper-link content to back up my well researched facts. Mostly though this website provides analysis about political events. Since I’m a political consulant by trade, I feel that I can provide insights that others can’t.
Where are the factual inaccuracy you speak of? Please point them out and I will correct them and apologize.
Mark G.:
Your distinction between bloggers and journalists is misguided.
Several years ago, I took a turn as a columnist for the Charlotte Observer. I wrote mostly on the environment, development, affordable housing, and property rights. One of the primary lessons I took away from that decision is precisely how unaccountable, unreliable, and unprofessional the mainstream media was on those topics. I would regularly be exposed to the same primary source materials as were the writers and editors of the mainstream media. And just as regularly I would identify, in my own column, where the reporting on those materials had either twisted the truth, ignored facts that ran contrary to the desired end, or was simply misleading.
A very quick example: the following data from an environmental report was once described by the mainstream media as “current negative trend†on the % of days that ozone was above “unhealthy†level: 9.5%, 8.5%, 3.3%, 3.3% 8.4%, 1.3%.
You tell me, Mark, is that a negative trend?
This sort of misleading reporting has lead to a warping of the “conventional wisdom.†Answer this quick question: True or False: our air is dirtier today than it was 30 years ago.
The answer, of course, is false. It is actually much cleaner. But you won’t read that in most, if any, of your “professional,†“accountable,†or “reliable,†media outlets.
Yes, many blogs devolve regularly into name –calling and general juvenile delinquency. But in that they are not very much different from their mainstream brethren. And it certainly not the determining factor on who should be allowed at press conferences.
If the mainstream media, with its considerable shortcomings, is not excluded from the process — especially by ETV, a public entity — then there is no possible argument for excluding blogs.
We regret that Tim Cameron experienced problems when he sought to attend Thursday’s “This Week in the Senate” program at the State House. It is important to note, however, that no one from ETV attempted to prevent Mr. Cameron from being seated, or suggested an alternate viewing area to him. Nor did anyone from the ETV crew even realize that a blogger had been denied access. While ETV provides the equipment and the airtime on our digital broadcast service, the South Carolina Channel, we don’t participate in choosing who is invited to view, or participate, in each week’s show.
ETV believes that bloggers make significant contributions to the political dialogue, and in fact, we have featured bloggers prominently on our programs, most notably on-set during our several hours of statewide Election Night 2006 coverage.
I think it’s time to organize our own association of new media types. It’s past time that we fought the power.
Mark G.
One more thing…the AP just reported today that former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey had “changed religions,” from Catholicism to Episcopalianism.
Last time I checked, those were both Christian religions. What the writer meant, of course, was that he had changed faiths. A minor error, perhaps, but one that could have easily been prevented if the AP did what you assured us all professional journalists do: “A journalist tries to get the facts before publishing; tries to provide context; provides attribution to quotes and facts.”
Clearly, the AP doesn’t pass your test, and should be excluded from the news process going forward.
Earl:
No offense dude, but look at what J. Sewell posted, something is already in the works. Just email him all of your contact information. The “power” is already being fought. keep your powder dry and be ready for the battle.
What I want to know is now that McConnell and ETV have made their denials and passed the blame … who will the Press Association folks say was responsible for booting Tim out?