And The Dude abides.
There seems to be two schools of thought in bloggyworld. The first is that blogs don't need the same type of mainstream access to coaches and players that the regular media has. This lack of access helps give them the freedom to say whatever they want and not have to worry about pissing off anybody important. It's an interesting idea, and works quite well for a lot of sites. The other school of thought is that blogs are a legitimate form of media and should be treated the same as mainstream media. I guess I fall into the second category since I'm kinda trying to be a "real journalist".
Luckily, hockey seems to be a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to this, thanks to none other than Washington Capitals owner/AOL head Ted Leonsis. Say what you will about Leonsis and American Online(and there is tons to complain about), but over the summer he: 1. Created this very nice NHL draft site 2. Didn't sign Travis Morin to a contract 3. Hopefully helped bloggers get their foot in the door of more ice rinks.
It seems that earlier this year, Leonsis asked hockey journalist Eric McErlain, who is one of the best in the business, to come up with some guidelines for bloggers who want to receive press passes to hockey games. The result of that project is here.
The criteria seems easy enough to follow.
1. Email Media Relations at least 3 days before an event. I can do that.
2. Don't publish objectionable content. I guess I can do that.
3. Be in operation for at least 3-6 months. I've already done that.
4. Submit traffic data. I can do that. Traffic here is just under 800 visitors a day, which isn't all that bad for a college hockey site.
5. You have to interact with players and coaches and write something about the game. I can do that.
6. You have to act professionally. I can do that.
So really, it's not that hard. I'm totally trying this, and hopefully schools around the country(especially in Minnesota) will be willing to give me a chance. It'd be great if they did because that would only make the coverage here even better.
There seems to be two schools of thought in bloggyworld. The first is that blogs don't need the same type of mainstream access to coaches and players that the regular media has. This lack of access helps give them the freedom to say whatever they want and not have to worry about pissing off anybody important. It's an interesting idea, and works quite well for a lot of sites. The other school of thought is that blogs are a legitimate form of media and should be treated the same as mainstream media. I guess I fall into the second category since I'm kinda trying to be a "real journalist".
Luckily, hockey seems to be a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to this, thanks to none other than Washington Capitals owner/AOL head Ted Leonsis. Say what you will about Leonsis and American Online(and there is tons to complain about), but over the summer he: 1. Created this very nice NHL draft site 2. Didn't sign Travis Morin to a contract 3. Hopefully helped bloggers get their foot in the door of more ice rinks.
It seems that earlier this year, Leonsis asked hockey journalist Eric McErlain, who is one of the best in the business, to come up with some guidelines for bloggers who want to receive press passes to hockey games. The result of that project is here.
The criteria seems easy enough to follow.
1. Email Media Relations at least 3 days before an event. I can do that.
2. Don't publish objectionable content. I guess I can do that.
3. Be in operation for at least 3-6 months. I've already done that.
4. Submit traffic data. I can do that. Traffic here is just under 800 visitors a day, which isn't all that bad for a college hockey site.
5. You have to interact with players and coaches and write something about the game. I can do that.
6. You have to act professionally. I can do that.
So really, it's not that hard. I'm totally trying this, and hopefully schools around the country(especially in Minnesota) will be willing to give me a chance. It'd be great if they did because that would only make the coverage here even better.