Media Rights, Broadcasting, and Press Credentials Issues in Sports

Media Rights, Broadcasting, and Press Credentials Issues in Sports
By: Anthony Mc Fadden

Media rights, broadcasting, and press credentials in sports have become a very heated battle between various sports leagues and the media. From bloggers to reporters, each game is becoming more and more difficult to cover. This is so because of the different sports leagues creating new rules to how they want their games covered by the media. Of course, the media are fighting back and so far haven’t been defeated by the sports leagues. If the leagues were to have their way they would want to cover the whole event themselves and have a special media for their own events.

In the first article I found titled “NFL Adopts Game Day Social Media Policy,” it talks about how the NFL is not allowing players, coaches, officials and play-by-play commentators participate in any social networking sites during a game. This is an attempt by the NFL to protect their Digital media rights to their events. The NFL and other major sports leagues for some reason think that they’re going to lose out on profits because of social networking. I don’t believe this is going to do that and if anything will help their profits. Some people forget about the game or just aren’t by a TV or radio and just want to know what’s happening in a game (Florio, 2009).

The second article, “Freedom of Information: When Sports Teams Restrict Access,” it explained how hard it is for a reporter or photographer to gain access t a sporting event. First, you must request permission ahead of time, and then you have to report to a designated area specified by the team. Then the league wants you to sign a waiver that states how you can use these images and some restrictions. I my opinion the leagues are becoming over protected over this subject. The media has been covering sporting events for a very long time and it’s never been a problem (Kirby, 2001).

Finally the article titled, “College Football Media Policy Draws Protest Letter,” talks about the media fighting back against college leagues by sending in a protest letter. The article basically outlines how news organizations are upset over new photography and online coverage restrictions for Southeastern Conference (SEC) college football games. The SEC only wants Internet photos posted that were used in the print media. That means no galleries full of event photos that we see on Yahoo Sports. The article also tells how the SEC wants to control the purchasing rights of the photos. This means they will give permission on who can use the photo and how they can be used.

To sum up the whole issue of media rights, broadcasting, and press credentials issue in sports you will have to say that leagues want complete control. They want to be in charge of how their product is showcased to their market. To take the side of the leagues, I can understand how they want to keep their products consistent across the different media platforms. This is America though and we were given the rights to express our opinions within good faith. The NFL is forgetting that and thinking that they will lose revenues for whatever reasons. Because of the strength of the media coverage the leagues cannot afford a boycott from the media because they don’t have their own media coverage teams or network. This will continue to be a heated battle between the media and sports leagues for a long time.


References:

Florio, M. (2009). Nfl adopts game day social media policy. Pro Football Talk,
Retrieved from http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/08/31/nfl-adopts-game-day-social-media-policy/

Kirby, K. (2001). Freedom of information: when sports teams restrict access. RTDNA –
Radio Television Digital News Association, Retrieved from http://www.rtdna.org/pages/media_items/when-sports-team-restrict-access180.php

Strupp, J. (2009). College football media policy draws protest letter. pdnonline.com –
Photo District News, Retrieved from http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/photojournalism/e3i8db76f379a25018a5100689dd828c7d2