By Mondo Times editors
Boulder Colorado USA
Posted on September 13, 2010 at 10:00am

Everybody's a Reporter

-- The Chicago Reader reported on September 9, 2010:

"The city of Chicago's journalists and media advocates chalked up a First Amendment victory Wednesday, September 8, when the City Council approved a string of changes to the ordinance governing CPD press passes. The old ordinance limited the passes to "full-time" employees of "newspapers, press associations, newsreels and radio stations." The full-time stipulation has been deleted, and the list of news media has been greatly expanded to include, among other things, "a newspaper or other periodical issued at regular intervals whether in print or electronic format."

"We realize that not everyone [who works in the media] is full-time," says CPD News Affairs director Roderick Drew. "The newsgathering business is not as black and white . . . as it has been in the past."

Another important change in the revisions, which sailed through the council just as last week they sailed through the Police and Fire Committee, is a repeal of the fingerprinting requirement added in 2002. Also gone is a stipulation that the journalist be "of good moral character." Still required by the police, though it's not specifically mentioned in the ordinance, will be a background check by the FBI's National Crime Information Center.

In rewriting the ordinance, Drew says, the CPD looked at credentialing practices from other cities and even the access regulations at the White House. The amendments were collectively drafted by the department and a number of local media organizations, some of which had been trying to get the fingerprinting requirement revoked since it became law eight years ago.

"The vast increase in freelancers and bloggers necessitated a change in the rules requiring full-time employment by news shops," says Sue Stevens, president of the Chicago Headline Club, one of the groups that helped draft the new ordinance. "Even if they don't have to show their press cards, they can be more confident in pursuing news."

The full story:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/everybodys-a-reporter/Content?oid=2396147

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