Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!vixie!asylum!sharon
From: sharon@asylum.SF.CA.US (Sharon Fisher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Press policy at MacWorld Expo
Keywords: press, freelancers, no coverage
Message-ID: <12242@asylum.SF.CA.US>
Date: 5 Jul 90 01:25:19 GMT
References: <12233@asylum.SF.CA.US> <1990Jul4.060616.19026@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>
Reply-To: sharon@asylum.UUCP (Sharon Fisher)
Distribution: na
Organization: The Asylum; Belmont, CA
Lines: 75

In article <1990Jul4.060616.19026@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (Bob Sherman) writes:
>Excuse Me!! Are you saying the price of an admission ticket would stop
>a stringer or freelancer on a legit assignment from entering the show???

Well, first of all, most shows I know of cost several hundred dollars
to attend.  It isn't easy to recoup this from an assignment, and a
magazine is likely to skip coverage rather than pay the cost itself.
Moreover, if you don't have a "press pass," but only a standard show
badge, you're forbidden from areas such as the press room with its
equipment, the press kit room with its materials for the press, press
conferences, etc.

>Legit publications provide those on a true assignment with an expense
>account, so they purchase the ticket, and get it paid back on their
>expense voucher.. 

Well, I've been in this business for several years, and I've never had
a magazine do this.  I go in and register as press, showing
credentials such as a bylined article, my name in the masthead, or an
assignment letter from an editor.  If a magazine has to pay several
hundred dollars to cover a show, it will most likely skip it.

>In fact, many of the legit media accept no free software or
>hardware (for review or otherwise). They insist that it be returned to
>the sender after the review is finished.. The reviewer is NOT allowed
>to keep it, however they may purchase it at regular market value if they
>desire.. 

Oh, agreed. This has been the policy for every magazine I've worked
on.  But I'm not talking about equipment here, but shows.

>Hopefully, those vendors that do not know of such policy will
>read this and stop let themself get "shaken down" for freebies by those
>media folks that have less than high morals. 

Believe it or not, I don't attend shows just so I can get more mugs
and T-shirts with vendor logos.  This is my job.

>Trade shows seem to draw
>more than their share of phony media types that goe mainly to fill up
>their bags with freebies. On top of that, many even have the nerve to
>use the pressroom, regardless if it makes a legit reporter wait for
>access to the computers, phones etc.

Agreed.  But *no* freelancers are being allowed press passes into the
show, including legitimate ones.  Must we throw the baby out with the
bath water to keep out the interlopers?

>In the "real world" freelancers without legit assignments (and proof of
>them) do not even get credentials..

Agreed.  I'm not saying people without assignments or legitimate needs
should be able to get press passes into shows.  But each magazine will
only get a limited number of press passes into the show, and must have
its act together to get these passes to the freelancers in question --
that is, if they have enough.  Some magazines have trouble in this
regard.

>What would the sidelines at an NFL game look like if every freelancer
>and stringer that wanted free sideline passes got them?? It does not
>work that way.. 

It's not quite the same thing, is it?  MacWorld Expo is not exactly an
entertainment event.  It's something that vendors pay thousands of
dollars to attend and exhibit, and at least part of the reason they're
there is to make contact with the press at a central location.  

>The media organizations get the tickets, and THEY give
>them to those that are covering the event, and even then, the number are
>very limited.. There is nothing wrong with a publication across the
>country getting the tickets, and sending them to the staffer, stringer
>or freelancer of their choice to cover MacExpo, and it should not hinder
>"real" coverage of the event.. 

From your mouth to God's ear...well, we'll see...