Although many major news organizations have found homes on the Internet, some reporters who cover sports online still struggle to get access to the events they write about.
At the same time, traditional media outlets continue to fight for access for their reporters while sports leagues and teams, often with their own media outlets and stakeholders, control access to events.
Those competing responsibilities, differing outlooks and resulting decisions about who can and cannot officially cover events will be addressed at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18, during the first online chat conducted by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.
“Who Should be in the Press Box and Why? Issues in Credentialing Bloggers and Journalists” is free and may be accessed at http://comm.psu.edu/sports/live-chats online.
Participants include:
— Michael Signora, vice president of football communications for the NFL;
— Jerry Micco, sports editor of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette;
— Cheryl Coward of Hoopfeed.com; and
— Malcolm Moran, the Knight chair in sports journalism and society and director of the Curley Center.
Marie Hardin, associate professor of communications at Penn State and associate director of the Curley Center, will serve as moderator for the hour-long session.
The Curley Center explores issues and trends in sports journalism through instruction, outreach, programming and research. The center’s undergraduate curricular emphasis includes courses in sports writing, sports broadcasting, sports information, sports, media and society, and sports and public policy, which is cross-listed with the Penn State Dickinson School of Law.