Louisville Courier-Journal v. NCAA

Great job, Brian. Keep up the good work. Let us know what happens if and when you guys fight this, because we'll be 100 percent behind you.

 

TSP,

For the record, I don't blog and the C-J in Louisville is a competitor of my paper (although the C-J probably does view the relationship the same way).

That being said, you act like a blog is only a transcription of what is SHOWN on TV. It's not. Faces in the stands, interesting comments heard, something happening between half-innings or innings (which wouldn't be shown due to commercials) typos in game notes, etc., will/can add to a blog.

You're not going to get that across the street. And having two people work on a blog (one at the office, one at the site) is pretty unfeasible.

Did the C-J turn you down once before and this is your way of taking out your frustrations?

 

Ha, I knew we'd draw Brian out!

I figured it was probably the editors decision to have you leave. I believe this was done to try and protect the newspaper's position that it was damaged by not allowing Brian to blog from the event. In this case, the blog was merely a recap of the game, so it could have been reproduced from anywhere with access to the game -- a TV, radio, the stands, some guy with a phone, whatever. So the blog COULD HAVE continued without Brian in the press box typing it up.

I also looked on the C-J site and saw that someone other than Brian wrote the game story for that game. So that's another point for the paper. They can say our guy wasn't even able to write his story because of the harm caused by the NCAA's decision. Based on Brian writing that if he went into the stands or across the street to continue his blog he wouldn't have access to the media interview area afterwards, it sounds to me like either his access to this area wasn't revoked or he was confident in his abilities to still either get in there or talk to the guys.

I just wish his editors would have said, screw them, keep blogging about it from somewhere else, we'll fight them about it later. They could have made the same big deal about it.

I'm looking forward to seeing where this fight goes.

 

Wow, you got it. How'd you know?

Sure, having two people work on a blog is unfeasible. If it's important enough to the paper, it will do it, though.

Here's what I said -- that particular blog about that day's game contained only play-by-play entries. Three of the posts referred to something that was seen on the ESPN telecast. Based on what I read in that particular blog, it could have been filed simply by watching the broadcast on TV. I didn't read anything in it that showed it needed to be written from the press box.

But a blog can be so much more.

 

I haven't seen this discussed.

Does someone have the live "blogging" rights tied up? If ESPN has their exclusive deal on televising, wtf does having a blog hurt? Unless a blogger is typing 250 wpm; the instantenous reproduction of the events at the game is highly unlikely. So ESPN - and the individual radio stations - still remains exclusive to the live transmissions from the game site.

I know we have the "Any other use, rebroadcast, or retransmission or the the pictures, descriptions, and accounts of this game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball or the YourTownPodunks Baseball Club, is strictly prohibited" disclaimers in MLB. What do individual clubs and/or MLB do about blogs?

 

tsp,

being in the press box, you can get access to people (athletic director) mid-game, stats and facts that are presented by sports info types, you have access to other materials that are unavailable outside the press box

that said, i have a blackberry that i use often to update my blog and i live blog all the time. i've met brian and respect him and his work and understand where he's coming from.

but i'd keep live blogging just to shove it up their ass, but that's me -- i understand why he just let it go and left. hell, that's a lot better. fuck 'em.

 

We blogged live from the NCAA women's tournament in March. It was never suggested to us we had broken some sort of rule.

 

Interesting issue which I'll be following. I blog for our paper (in addition to my regular game-day, four-story duries) live from college football games. Does anyone read it real time? I have no idea, nor do I care. While I might mention a play or two or drop a few stats, it's mostly my impressions of what's going on. If they want it live, they can get it live. If not, they can grab a few "extras" later. This is definitely an issue for newspapers.

I also found what Playthrough said hilarious. He's right about the cup-Nazis at championship events. I used that to gain the NCAA reps' attention one year at a Sweet 16 site. Couldn't flag a rep down for anything in the world. I mean nothing! I stuck out a Aquafina bottle (I think Coke and Dasani had the rights) and damn if someone wasn't there in front of me in about 3.7 seconds!

Oh, and FWIW, Brian Bennett is a damn good reporter. He just needs to remember where he left his glasses after New Year's Eve nights with his favorite Kentucky beverage! (Hey BB!)

 

I know what CAN be done. I also know what WAS done with this one blog this one day.

I bet if the blog was more of a commentary that made use of the tools available in the press box, the NCAA would not have done what it did.

 

You're not kidding. Wait until something like this happens and they get on the bad side of the Omaha World-Herald. That might be one of the most underrated papers in the country, and its CWS coverage is first-rate every day. (And no, I don't work there...)

 

As we are all pretty much in agreement, I echo the clarion call that this is a heaping pile of NCAA bullshit (redundancy?) Kudos for Brian for coming on here to sort it out some more, and to those who are pitching a fit -- much as I would (one of the few things I am good at, alas) if we were directly involved.

If the University of Podunk tries to pull similar shit with us in the future, you better believe they will have a spitting-mad RB on their hands.

Keep up the good fight, y'all!

rb

 

The bigger problem is that for newspapers to grow, they must use the internet. If other organizations such as the NFL, NBA and MLB follow suit - and it wouldn't surprise me if one of the big three do - this may put the final nail in journalism's coffin.