Media Rights....Where Do You Draw The Line?

Just in case anyone was wondering, there are a lot of issues in sports regarding media rights, broadcasting and press credentials.  Some people think that if a NCAA tournament is held at a college, that the NCAA has all the media and broadcasting rights to that tournament.  That couldn’t be more wrong.  A good example is the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament in Kingston, Rhode Island, at the University of Rhode Island. 

When it comes to managing the local, regional, and national media contingent covering the event, the NCAA is hands off.  All the responsibility is on the educational venue hosting the event.  The school and their sports information department were responsible for organizing the media needs for this tournament.  URI Coordinator of Sports Communications Shane Donaldson was the head guy that was in charge of making this happen.  It was a hug project for him to deal with though because he’s not used to so many media requests for women’s tournament compared to the men’s.  He stated, “more than 160 credentials were issued for the two-day tournament, 96 of which were to reporters and photographers.  For a typical men’s game total media is around 30-40 on a given night, so you’re talking more than double than what we typically have.” 

Now, a big issue that’s been going around when it comes to broadcasting a sporting event has a lot to do with Tweeting about it on Twitter.  Recently there was reporter that tweeted numerous times during a basketball game.  He was later “reprimanded” for his actions for excessive tweeting during the game.  There were threats of punishment, including the revocation of the reporters press credentials for breaking the live-update limit.  This seems pretty extreme because this is becoming more and more popular.  I’m a huge Notre Dame fan and when I can’t watch the games, I look forward to the live updates from the reporters at the games.  If the reporters aren’t going to do it, then a fan will.  What exactly is the difference?

 In an article I found, “College sports, broadcasting rights, and the digital space”, author, Elizabeth Wiley commented on this story by stating, “It may seem ludicrous for a reporter to be reprimanded for sending one or two tweets too many, but a 20 tweet limit for 40 minutes of live action on the basketball court doesn’t seem that restrictive. Reporters are allowed to tweet as much as they want pre-game, post-game, and even at halftime.”  She also points out a few more good points by stating that those posts alone, could equal more than 20 tweets that are “allowed” during the game.  Also, what stops the stations from actually sending a reporter into the stands to send out live tweets rather than in the press box?  Essentially there’s really no way this can stop.  I feel like there will be ways around it whether or not the school wants it to stop or not. There has to be a way to compromise with this situation, just like any other media rights issues.

SOURCES

http://sportsmediajournal.com/tag/on-press-row/

http://mashable.com/2012/11/12/live-tweeting-broadcast-rights/

http://flipthemedia.com/2012/12/college-sports-broadcasting-rights-and-the-digital-space/