credentialed media

The wording for the event said all credentialed media.  To get in just show your DNC press credential.  Hmm, that should be easy but mere bloggers don't have any credentials to even pick up until Sunday.  I called the host committee who had to put me on hold.  They got back and said essentially, uh, sure just go to the guest relations booth at the entrance and you can get in.

Seems there was no list provided to the folks working the booth though.  They wanted to see something that showed I was a blogger.  Hmm, so I pulled out my new snazzy union printed (thanks C&D printing!) SquareState business card.  Asking what would someone do if they didn't have business cards, I was told those kind of people would have to speak to someone from the host committee staff.  There's someone at the entrance, just look for the word STAFF on the person's credential, she said.  Sure enough, there were some who were turned away at the gate, as was blogged at Dailykos I'm told.  I'd link to it, but I'm sure it scrolled off the diary list in 30 milliseconds.

This event was open to credentialed media and their family.  There were more than a few kids running around, and I don't think the Denver Post is violating child labor laws yet.  All the rides were open.

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JJP is thrilled to be heading to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention. My grandfather went to the 1968 Republican Convention as a delegate. For him, the Republican party was then still the party that freed his father from slavery. 40 years later, times have changed and I’m representing my black family and yours in a different capacity with a different party affiliation.

I agree with Francis Holland who says of black bloggers:

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UPDATE (8/20): Had a pretty crappy medical issue come up, so I'm sadly passing on this trip to rest up before Denver.

I hit the the road tomorrow afternoon to attend the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association convention (here's the schedule). I will be on the Media Summit Live Broadcast of the Mike Signorile Show; as you will see below, I'm representing the dirty, unwashed masses of the blogosphere alongside the "real" journalists. It's great to attend this event, because there's clearly some tension between the worlds of blogger citizen journalism, commentary and the traditional press, and that goes for LGBT media as well. Candidates have increasingly reached out to the blogs, so the issues of access are going to provide interesting discussion.

Access: The LGBT Press & The Candidates
The Michelangelo Signorile Show

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