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LISD policy distinguishes bloggers from media
By Chris Roark, roarkc@acnpapers.com
In an age of exploding social media, it was only a matter of time before the line had to be drawn to distinguish bloggers from traditional media.
Lewisville Independent School District did that Monday night during the board of trustees meeting, all the while defending its decision as a move of convenience and not as a way of withholding information.
The board unanimously voted to adopt a revision to an existing local policy regarding news media relations.
The revision added that district officials can deny an interview request if official press credentials are not presented. It went on to define the news media members as someone who is “employed by a print or broadcast media outlet that has an official publication with a formal form of distribution and that broadcast media outlets are required to have an official timed newscast measured by the Neilson Rating System.”
Three residents within LISD spoke before the vote to oppose the policy, including Lewisville resident Steve Southwell, who operates the blog www.whosplayin.com. The blog discusses many issues in the area, ranging from politics to education.
Southwell argued that the policy denies bloggers the same privileges as the media as defined in the policy.
“I think that this policy change was meant merely to squelch blogs,” Southwell said. “This attempt is basically juvenile and vindictive. We are in 2009, and people do use social media, people read blogs, and the taxpayers in the district have a right to know what’s going on. They have a right to more information than what you release in press releases. Bloggers like myself have a right to call up and ask for an interview.”
District spokeswoman Karen Permetti agreed that everyone has a right to information but said there are times when an order of importance has to be put in place, which is what the policy is designed to do.
“Let’s say that there’s an emergency and we have to lock down a school,” Permetti said. “I’m not going to be thinking of a blogger in the midst of this. We have to prioritize because I know the media has a deadline.”
Permetti mentioned other reasons why traditional media would get information first, such as the number of potential bloggers that could attend an event.
“We have 127 square miles in this district,” Permetti said. “Think about how many bloggers there could be. How can we manage that many bloggers for an event that might only be for 200 people?”
Southwell said that’s never been an issue.
“When was the last time there were 150 bloggers at an event?” he said.
Permetti also said a priority is in place to help principals.
“We don’t want to be in the position or put the principal in a position where they have to be argued with,” Permetti said, noting that bloggers are often opinionated and seek debate. “Plus, what if a principal’s comments are taken out of context or a blogger gets the facts wrong? You can’t ask for a retraction on a blog like you can with the media.”
Permetti said the district will recognize bloggers as a form of media but only if they are associated with legitimate forms of media, such as a newspaper or TV station.
The issue of traditional media reporter versus blogger has arisen in the past, and it made headlines in 2008 when the Dallas Mavericks set a policy to ban bloggers from the locker room.
Here at home, Southwell said bloggers aren’t getting information in a timely fashion.
“When you ask for information and they dodge you or delay you, you have the responsibility to dig deeper,” Southwell said.
He pointed to the speech given by President Barack Obama last month as an example. Southwell said he requested information from LISD regarding the speech that would have answered a lot of parents’ questions. He said he didn’t receive the information until after LISD’s board meeting on Sept. 14.
Permetti said the information he was requesting took several days to gather and added LISD has, by law, 10 businesses days to fulfill a request.
Still, Permetti said while traditional media may receive the information first, anyone who requests public information through the district will receive it, though not everyone will necessarily be granted an interview.
Some board members asked questions about the policy, such as Fred Placke, who said he was OK with it as long as it doesn’t violate First Amendment rights.
Permetti added that the policy has been in place for years, though it needed to be updated to reflect the changing times.
“It hadn’t been updated since 1992, and that’s pre-Web,” she said. “This doesn’t mean that we won’t re-evaluate it in six months. But the media is changing, and today this is what we need to do.”
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
JAD wrote on Oct 22, 2009 9:48 AM:
" I agree that the traditional media should be addressed first, if not solely. Bloggers typically get their data from the trads anyway. "
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