Posted on 09/29/2004 10:44:38 AM PDT by spacewarp
Since the august body of Freepers have proven to be more reliable than that of "mainstream" press giants CBS, what would it take for an elite team of posters from FreeRepublic to actually acquire press credentials to cover events? We do better research, have more rapid reporting and more active people to actually pursue the news. Could there be a special membership level that we could purchase to get us credentials, so we may interview power players, and attend events that would otherwise be blocked to "non-press"?
Paul
Moderator, I don't know where to put this, so you can move it to where it would be best.
I've asked about this a few times because people seem to enjoy my video event coverage.
Thoughts?
D
Credentials? We don need no steenking credentials.
I actually think it is a good Idea. The only issue is how do we get free Republic recognized as anything other than a blog site.I think that would be the big hang up. Most events that issue press passes would not view this as a ligitimte news orginization hence not part of the "Reporting Press" But it would certianly give credibility to the internet as the New Media for reporting and news if we could pull it off. Maybe all it takes is Jim to dedicate part of the site to reporting news.
I require a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ( a big one, with Jiff and good jelly). At noon. Non-negotiable. Then we can go from there.
Interesting -- FR and bloggers ARE part of the "new media".
Good idea.
Credentials would be the easy part.
Money to finance the idea would be the hard part.
Sorry,Skippy and Smuckers Rasberry and I'll join you.
I'm almost certain that there are several FReepers who are credentialed members of the MSM.
I think it's a GREAT idea!
I don't think it'd be an easy task, and I dunno where you'd even start, but it could be a very positive thing.
Would also give us the chance to throw some real curveball questions at some very questionable public figures.
You can't. There's no such thing. All the "press credentials" you see for sale on web sites are scams. Real "press credentials" are one of two things:
1) ID from MSM organizations. If you work for CNN, you get a CNN ID. If you work for Fox, you get an FNC ID. And people see those and let you in because you're "legit."
2) Passes issued by a given organization to cover their events and only their events. (For example, the credentials handed out by the GOP that let reporters into the convention.) It's up to each organization to decide if you're worthy of a pass. This is where we might have some hope; remember that both parties gave credentials to a few bloggers for their conventions.
Credentials are the easy part. A sensible business and organizational plan is harder and more consequnetial.
So, someone in the blogosphere should seek credentials on Capitol Hill. And to my thnking, no one deserves that better than FreeRepublic. (NewsMax has fought for two years to get press credentials for itself, so they could advise on what to do, and what sort of opposition to expect from the dinosaurs of the MSM (who control the credentials process.)
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "Kerry Hasn't Read a History Book"
If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.
And the appeal is very straightforward. If CBS still has credentials to attend at the White House, at least an antidote to that should be available in the form of an official representative of the blogosphere.
Congressman Billybob
Excellent idea.
.
How about starting by forming a semi-official FreeRepublic entity, sanctioned and hosted by Jim &c, like a 'Free Republic Press Service'. "Joe Blow, reporting for FreeRepublic...". Made up of volunteers, who are willing to formally agree to some level of ethical standards beyond what the MSM complies to (that shouldn't be too hard).
I could envision affiliating with other blogpress, a sort of National Internet Press Club. (NIPC - pronounced Nip-See).
A wire serialization service called the Internetted Press.
The easiest thing to do would be to create a weekly e-zine that would be published for consumers. As part of this, people from around the country would get credentialed by the magazine to cover events. This would require requests to congress the WH and other government agencies for credentialing.
Someone would need to be editor in chief, as well as people to write for the e-zine. We would need a subscription service to AP and Reuters to download articles for reproduction or editing and publication.
We would need a secure web site to process subscription fees. We will need to create an S-Corp with shareholders and Federal and State Tax ID. We will need to be for profit. We will need a corporate charter and a business plan.
As I see it, people will not get paid for this outside of the editor in chief who will get a wee bit of cash. That person will be doing the majority of the work. We will need sponsorships and advertising revenue. A good donation from a sugar daddy wouldn't hurt. I am pretty sure once the election is over, the SBV and Fox News Corp might want to thank us for the great job we did in cheering from the sidelines.
Most of this we can pretty much do on a collaborative basis. Form a board of directors, we can vote on that. Create an editorial staff, look at people with some talent in the major markets to go to events to report.
That's pretty much it. Will take some time and effort and a few bridgeline calls but I think we can begin a feasibility study within the next week with a demo e-zine to be published for our own use on November 3.
Thoughts? Jim?
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