Alabama Legislators Say You Must Be A Salaried Employee Of Old School Media To Get Approved For Press Credentials

from the enjoy-Alabama's-refreshingly-shallow-press-pool! dept

The only people who still feel they can clearly define who is and isn't a journalist are legislators. They're almost always wrong. Journalism isn't a career. It's an activity. Anyone can do it and, thanks to the internet, anyone can find a publishing platform and readers. But, according to many politicians, it ain't the press unless it involves one.

If you want press credentials to cover Alabama's legislative sessions, prepare to be disappointed. (via Jim Romenesko)

Raise your hand if you trust Alabama Republican legislative leaders to define "legitimate journalism" in Alabama. Well, they're doing it anyway. Tuscaloosa Rep. Chris England took to Facebook to post a list of criteria that reporters will have to meet if they're to receive press credentials & be allowed inside the press rooms at the State House.
No one's raising their hands (except maybe the legislators) but that's not going to stop the legislature from defining "journalist" to fit its narrow standards. Here's Alabama's proposed official press credential policy.
1. A media representative shall be admitted to the floors of the House or Senate or allowed press privileges if the person is a salaried staff correspondent, reporter, or photographer employed by any of the following:

a. The news department of a federally licensed television or radio station, or the news department of a network providing coverage to television and radio stations.
b. A newspaper of general circulation providing print or online editions for the dissemination of news of a general character, which has a bona fide subscription list of paying subscribers, and has been established, printed, and published at regular intervals.
c. A wire service providing news service to newspapers, television, or radio stations as referred to above.
d. Internet news services and bloggers associated with any of the previously listed categories.

2. Applicants seeking press credentials are required to submit documentation from their employer certifying that they are engaged primarily in reporting the sessions of the legislature.

The applicant must also certify that, with the exception of the Alabama Press Association and the Alabama Broadcasters Association, and the exception of receiving advertising revenue, they have no affiliation with any person, firm, corporation, association, or political party that attempts to influence legislative issues or lobby members of the Alabama Legislature.

3. Applicants unable to comply with the aforementioned certification requirement will not be issued legislative press credentials, but will still be free to cover sessions of the Alabama Legislature from the public galleries located on the sixth and eighth floors.

Any person who is discovered to have misrepresented themselves to obtain legislative press credentials will have their credentials denied or revoked.
Notice how much emphasis is placed on being paid and working for incumbent media outlets. This wording gives incumbent media preference over upstarts and quite possibly means those whose platforms aren't instantly recognizable by legislators will be deemed "non-press" and denied access.

Also notice how much information journalists will need to provide in exchange for a press pass. If you want to cover the Alabama legislature, you'll need to prove that you're a salaried employee of one of the entities on the "approved" list. Maybe something on official letterhead will be good enough for the legislature. Or maybe it's suggesting you bring a pay stub or two with you and a portfolio of your work (... and financial statements verifying your employer has subscribers, still in business, etc...). And God forbid you hold a part-time job with any "person, firm, corporation or association" that "attempts to influence legislative issues," but still attempt to "certify" that you have no connection to myriad entities listed in the "forbidden connections" section. You can kiss your credentials goodbye. And this part of the list about forbidden connections -- "or political party" -- suggests journalists are better off not registering to vote.

Beyond that, there's the weird stipulation that those receiving press credentials will need to be "engaged primarily in reporting the sessions of the legislature. (And be able to prove it.) Here's Left in Alabama's take on that:
Other than the Montgomery Advertiser, what news outlets have reporters who "primarily" report on the legislature? Staff is stretched so thin that a reporter might cover a legislative story in the morning, a car wreck over lunch, a heartwarming pet story in the afternoon, and then do a stand up about Mike Hubbard's arrest on corruption charges for the evening news broadcast. Does that count?
Now, Alabama legislators can pretend that these restrictions are in place to prevent the press gallery from becoming bathrobe blogger central, but all it's really there for is to ensure as many potential journalists as possible are locked out. It also locks out nonprofit organizations that perform journalism, as one commenter on England's Facebook page points out.
While I seriously couldn't care less about being in the press room or having "credentials", it would certainly leave the Alabama School Connection out, as I am a nonprofit news organization, online only. I will not ever have "paying subscribers". There is a huge world of nonprofit news organizations that wouldn't meet any of those criteria…
England states on his page that he's against these proposed rules. Good for him. Now, that all may change, thanks to certain members of the Alabama legislature. If it does, many journalists will be locked out, and the First Amendment will be worse off for it.

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Filed Under: alabama, free speech, freedom of the press, journalism, journalists, media, press credentials


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  1. icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 16 Jan 2015 @ 6:38pm

    Wait. What?

    ...if they're to receive press credentials & be allowed inside the press rooms at the State House.

    If only there was some way of making such limited spaces accessible to the general public...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 16 Jan 2015 @ 6:48pm

    A whole lot of wasted words

    They could have saved a whole lot of effort if they'd just come out and said: 'We don't want to let anyone in who might not agree with everything we say, or that we can't control'.

    Same result, much less typing for the press release.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    McDoogle, 16 Jan 2015 @ 7:06pm

    Ummm

    Is there ANYONE that meets those criteria?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    julia, 16 Jan 2015 @ 7:20pm

    Press definition.

    Reminds me of how Egypt, Turkey, and Russia try to thinly disguise their efforts at defining a free press out of existence.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2015 @ 7:55pm

    No reporter can meet those criteria because if you work for a mainstream news outlet then you work for a corporation that seeks to influence the legislature.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Jake, 16 Jan 2015 @ 7:58pm

    You know, I'm all in favour of not setting a precedent that might let every yahoo with a Wordpress account and an axe to grind describe themselves as a journalist, partly because it gives ammunition to opponents of things like shield laws but mostly because people who think words should mean whatever the fuck they want them to mean make my piss boil.

    But good grief, this is so not the way to go about that. Not a single person involved in drawing up that list of credentials has had a new idea since the Reagan administration!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2015 @ 8:23pm

    "Applicants unable to comply with the aforementioned certification requirement will not be issued legislative press credentials, but will still be free to cover sessions of the Alabama Legislature from the public galleries located on the sixth and eighth floors."

    Attention everyone... the folks in the public galleries located on the sixth and eight floors are the only "potentially honest" reports present.

    the ones with the press passes are the corrupt bastards that have sold their souls and are not worth listening to!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2015 @ 8:42pm

    Democracy should not be something that only those willing to pay for can participate in. Access to information about the legislative process should be free for all. That they are trying to lock democracy behind a paywall is unacceptable and absolutely outrageous.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Sheogorath (profile), 16 Jan 2015 @ 8:58pm

    So basically, this is a way of keeping out freelance journalists who are more likely to write things as they see them, simply because they have no job to lose should an editor from a lobbying news outlet not like what they have to say.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2015 @ 11:21pm

    Re:

    Even if you assume none of that is true this is openly and undeniably a way of commercializing the democratic process by giving those who pay an unfair playing field in the process and unequal access to information that affects all of us. That's not how democracy is supposed to work.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Name, 16 Jan 2015 @ 11:41pm

    Except Lobbyists

    "The applicant must also certify that, with the exception of the Alabama Press Association and the Alabama Broadcasters Association, and the exception of receiving advertising revenue, they have no affiliation with any person, firm, corporation, association, or political party that attempts to influence legislative issues or lobby members of the Alabama Legislature."

    Except Lobbyists

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2015 @ 11:54pm

    So Alabama is butt chapped over things written that put them in bad light uh?

    Well what is the real purpose of news, not what we have today in the lamescream media but what it was for back before they merged all these various media places into fewer owners. It was at one time the way they kept politicians honest. No politician wanted to be exposed to the public by investigative reporting that revealed corruption, bribe taking, nepotism, or any of a thousand other ways they've figured out to screw the taxpayer.

    So what they are really saying with this attempt at limiting who is press, is they are attempting to remove the last vestiges of investigative reporting.

    That's called accountability gentlemen and if you can't stand it, you can't stand the light of day on your dealings. So I suspect there are some real doozies attempting to be hidden here with worst to come in the future should this stand.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 12:52am

    Alabama's Legislators want to control the narrative, by only allowing "state approved" news agencies report the news to the American public. I'm sure China has similar laws.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 1:16am

    Bigotry at its finest

    If it ain't Fox news then it ain't news...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 1:25am

    Re: Re:

    If you want to get technical, a representative democracy is a misnomer given the fact that 'you' give up your right to vote in the legislative process to someone else who may or may not have your best interests in mind...

    Our so-called Democracy has been broken since the start otherwise corporations wouldn't be people and our currency wouldn't be privately owned.

    Not to mention, 95% of the policies passed by Congress over the past 20 years have been to no benefit to the public....

    In other words, we don't live a democratic republic but rather a corporate oligarchy posing as one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 2:52am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Well there is a difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy. Petitions that cause legislation to make it on ballots allowing for direct votes are sill a form of direct democracy. Representative democracy means we delegate our right to directly vote on bills to someone we vote for that represents the public. Unfortunately most politicians seem to represent themselves a lot more than the public which makes our democracy not really a democracy at all.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 4:17am

    I get the feeling the people running this country don't give a dam about the rights of the people and are trying to set themselves up as royalty to all extent and purposes

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 4:25am

    Re: Wait. What?

    your not keeping up with the times, people can get arrested if they try and sit in on such meetings. The little people are restricted from visiting their publicly funded politician meetings on penalty of police harassment.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    art guerrilla (profile), 17 Jan 2015 @ 4:50am

    show us your papers, citizen...

    we *used to* make light of this being a REAL thing...

    now it's happening...

    who will be first to be barcoded ? ? ?
    a young, black, left-handed, red-headed, pedophile, i'm guessing...
    all of us, not too long after...

    welcome to the monkeyhouse...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    tomczerniawski, 17 Jan 2015 @ 6:05am

    Well, of course they prefer incumbent media to newcomers. The incumbents have already been bought and paid for, while a newcomer might report some inconvenient truth as opposed to being bribed into silence.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 7:13am

    Licensing of the Press

    Licensing of the Press went out with Queen Anne in the 1700's.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 7:52am

    bama is behind the times.  might as well be 1957 in several hard-case parts of the country, and bama is front and center in that list.

    in 1957 the nation was partitioned into people running things and the rest of us people running things controlled the news the rest of us could learn about.  it let the prts do anything they wanted to do and rou would never even know about it.  a compliant press was critical to that environment.

    flash forward to today and there are so many ways people get information that it is impossible to ordain mouthpieces and leave it at that.  bama is having trouble with that concept and is trying to turn back the clock.

    [side note: i don't know if all computers display what mine displays, but there is an ampersand in that first italicized quote that displays on my computer as a version of the old-style character.  truly it is a capital e and a lower-case t mushed together into a single character.  some here may not know that the ampersand originated from the latin word et, meaning and.  several of the old-style typefaces (particularly in italic) retain enough of the original letter shapes that you can still discern the e and t.]

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    dr evil, 17 Jan 2015 @ 8:05am

    oh what a wonderful world

    Imagine if you will, an Alabama that spends as much time and effort as it did in this misguided and worthless effort on something that mattered or could matter ...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    avideogameplayer, 17 Jan 2015 @ 8:27am

    I smell the ACLU coming down to Alabama...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. icon
    Spaceman Spiff (profile), 17 Jan 2015 @ 8:35am

    Time for a trip to SCOTUS

    This is just so egregiously unconstitutional that my mind cannot deal with it! Who paid these "representatives" to propose and pass this "legislation"? I'll bet FOX "News" was one of them...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. icon
    res (profile), 17 Jan 2015 @ 9:43am

    why tell the truth

    when a lie will do as well. Seems to me that it is about time that the journalists start making up the news themselves since they cannot report on what is actually happening. In no time the legislature will let them in since they really wouldn't want ridiculous articles about how the legislature wants to sterilize people who make less than $150,000 (or whatever their salary is).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 17 Jan 2015 @ 10:54am

    Our reps don't care.

    I get the feeling the people running this country don't give a dam about the rights of the people and are trying to set themselves up as royalty to all extent and purposes

    As has been and always will be the case.

    Hence the checks and balances system.

    Hence the electorate system.

    The problem is (as was also predicted and inevitable) both of these have been hacked.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 12:06pm

    Does this disqualify anyone who votes? I mean, they clearly are trying "to influence legislative issues or lobby members of the Alabama Legislature."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 12:06pm

    Does this disqualify anyone who votes? I mean, they clearly are trying "to influence legislative issues or lobby members of the Alabama Legislature."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. icon
    lucidrenegade (profile), 17 Jan 2015 @ 1:31pm

    "Alabama's-refreshingly-shallow-press-pool!"

    Alabama's-disgustingly-shallow-gene-pool!

    FTFY

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 4:53pm

    Re: Ummm

    Charlie Hebedo?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. icon
    Pronounce (profile), 17 Jan 2015 @ 5:03pm

    Re: show us your papers, citizen...

    Friends in NZ tell me that the government there encourages individuals to get chipped. I've not verified that officially, but it would seem to me that being barcoded is a bit outdated.

    ABC reported Feb 25 last year of a chipping program: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98077

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 6:03pm

    The real hero of the story would be the organization who decided to offer credentials to everyone , via download, that would be pretty enjoyable to see.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2015 @ 6:07pm

    So if vote and influence elections you get no pass. Alabama has some serious issues.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 18 Jan 2015 @ 7:03am

    The old guard is going insane

    The old guard is truly going insane, isn't it? Oh, yes, they love the internet for all the surveillance it gives them of every waking second of the citizens.

    But beyond that, the internet is just tearing down everything the old guard stood for. Controlled news, controlled music distribution, controlled publication, and controlled national secrets; controlled knowledge. That knowledge they just can't control anymore.

    ...and that fact is driving them utterly insane.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  36. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2015 @ 7:20am

    Re: Our reps don't care.

    least you still have your second amendment. Can you imagine the bloodbath if americans were unarmed

    link to this | view in thread ]

  37. identicon
    Rich Kulawiec, 18 Jan 2015 @ 8:25am

    Neil Young nailed this 4 decades ago

    I come to you and see all this ruin
    What are you doing, Alabama?
    You got the rest of the union to help you along
    What's going wrong?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  38. identicon
    Unanimous Cow Herd, 18 Jan 2015 @ 10:03am

    Really?

    How the fuck old are these legislators?

    "A newspaper of general circulation providing print or online editions for the dissemination of news of a general character, which has a bona fide subscription list of paying subscribers, and has been established, printed, and published at regular intervals."

    Most courts won't accept service by publication because no one subscribes to newspapers anymore. I haven't read paper news in over 10 years and most of my current news comes from sites that ONLY have online versions now (assuming they ever had a paper run).

    Alabama is trying to literally turn back time. There I thought all the rumors about Alabama being a "backwards" place were simply inter-collegiate trash talk.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  39. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 18 Jan 2015 @ 1:02pm

    Re: The old guard is going insane

    Such is the nature of disrupting technology. It happened with fabric buttons in the 15th century.

    It happened with the written word before the Common Era.

    Everyone has to adapt or die.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  40. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 18 Jan 2015 @ 1:15pm

    Universalist Unitarianism for press.

    I love it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  41. identicon
    duvardan duvara halı, 18 Jan 2015 @ 3:12pm

    wow just as confused as a condition of our country

    link to this | view in thread ]

  42. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2015 @ 11:35am

    Bosses of the Senate

    Reminds me if this classic cartoon from the late 19th century.

    One wonders if this is their objective.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  43. identicon
    KRA, 19 Jan 2015 @ 3:03pm

    Re: A whole lot of wasted words

    Agreed. Try to get a local rag to print anything negative about the local government and prepare to be disappointed. You hit the nail on the head--they fear what they can't control.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  44. icon
    Shel10 (profile), 19 Jan 2015 @ 11:53pm

    Hey... These rules eliminate Al Sharpton !

    link to this | view in thread ]

  45. identicon
    Ayn Rand, 20 Jan 2015 @ 2:42am

    reality deniers

    Although some people have million of followers of their blogs/ videoblogs/ podcasts etc. And many are also re-transmited by important internet "radio stations". And even on press "on paper"...

    We like "the secret" and we are going to wish they are not journalists, and deny it
    so if we say they are not journalists... then they are not!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  46. identicon
    Kim du Toit, 20 Jan 2015 @ 11:36am

    Make It Up

    I think that bloggers affected by this nonsense should report on the Alabama legislature's activities... but if denied access, they should just make it up. Don't make it like The Onion -- keep it plausible, but invent stuff. Here's an example:

    "Rep. Louise Alexander (D) has proposed that Alabama drivers should have to reapply for their licenses on an annual basis, to increase the state's income stream from the fees. Rep. George Bandy (D) concurred, but promised to add a rider which would double the fee amount."

    Send the link to the Drudge Report and to InstaPundit, to get maximum coverage for your inventions, and do it daily, nonstop for as long as it takes. Be sure to include ALL the legislators, even the ones who didn't support this nonsense, but give the preponderance of the fabrications to those who did.

    When challenged, ask the challenger to prove that the legislators did NOT say anything of the sort, and further ask the challenger if there's any truth to the rumor that Rep. Jim Carns (R) is about to be censured for campaign irregulariaties. (Don't worry about libel or slander; there are ALWAYS campaign irregularities.)

    Keep it up for a few months; see who buckles first.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  47. icon
    AlecRawls (profile), 20 Jan 2015 @ 12:40pm

    AL redefinition of "press" mimics orthodox Islam's attempted redefinition of murder

    Alabama is setting up a nice test case for the Supreme Court:

    "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of the press."

    1. Is The AL restriction on press credentials a law? Yes. The power to make restrictions is established by law, and this particular restriction is a manifestation of that law.

    2. Applies to the states under the well-established doctrine of incorporation.

    3. Can the legislature define “press” as it wishes for purposes of compliance with the First Amendment, or is this concept independently established as part of the meaning and requirements of the Constitution? Clearly the latter, again according to well established constitutional jurisprudence.

    [Note that 3 is where orthodox Islam made its violently enforced escape from the Ten Commandments. Any killing not in defense of self or others is murder and is barred by the 6th Commandment. Killing over insult, or killing those who want out of the religion, is not killing in self-defense and is hence murder. Orthodox Islam pretends it can escape this restriction simply by defining killing over insult as lawful, but no, they can’t change the definition of murder under the 6th Commandment so logically this fails and, if the God of the Jews (who Muhammad claimed to speak for) actually exists, then all orthodox Muslims are going to burn in hell forever.]

    4. Is the concept of “the press” referenced by the Constitution abridged by limiting it to salaried news organization employees dedicated primarily to covering the state legislature? Oh yeah.

    Please do pitch this softball to SCOTUS, while the nation prays that they are not AWOL again.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  48. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 20 Jan 2015 @ 4:28pm

    Murder for purposes of self defense or warfare is interpretation.

    That whole bit about you will not kill having exceptions is purely an issue of interpretation, though because of the contradictory nature of the Old Testament, interpretation becomes rapidly necessary.

    That whole Go forth and wipe out all these tribes down to the last man and child and cattle, but keep the prepubescent girls as your sex-slaves bit completely contradicts no kill until your biblical scholars and rules lawyers come in to set things right.

    Really, everybody has to by necessity play fast and loose with scripture and most assume that the passages with which they personally agree are the ones that are right. Regardless of whether we're talking the Torah, the Bible or the Koran.

    And this is why we said "to Hell with that noise" and created the constitution and later the UN charter on Human Rights (that no-one regards).

    Of course, then we still have lawyers specifying that our protection against illegal searches and seizure only applies to specific kinds of search or seizure. And our right to bear arms is limited to certain kinds of arms.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  49. identicon
    vaillant servis, 8 Sep 2015 @ 2:05am

    I'm sorry, our country is now so confused, I understand you, hello from turkey

    link to this | view in thread ]

  50. identicon
    Vaillant Servisi, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:47am

    Interesting news you got there.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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