Update: Go to bottom of this post for the actual policy on live-blogging.
The SEC wants you to stop reading this blog. And the Kentucky Sports Radio blog. And A Sea of Blue. And Chip Cosby’s blog, Jerry Tipton’s blog, Brett Dawson’s blog. They want you to stop watching the local TV sports, listen to the local radio reports, right on down the line.
The SEC wants your total loyalty to be directed to the SEC Digital Network, which starts up in a couple of weeks.
Here’s the league announcing its network.
But The Tuscaloosa News latched onto to a memo sent by the SEC to its member institutions basically calling for them to crack down on local media, especially when it comes to digital reporting. There will be new restrictions on video (no game highlights longer than three minutes, and none 72 hours after the game), audio, press conferences, even photographs, and yes, live blogs.
Jason Morton of the Tuscaloosa News broke the story. Mark Bradley of the AJC has written about it, as has Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.
Wrote Bradley:
Meaning: If WSB or WAGA or WXIA or WGCL wanted to show a replay of, say, A.J. Green catching the winning touchdown pass against South Carolina on Sept. 19, 2009 - the game will be played Sept. 13 - those stations couldn’t do it.
Also: No “bearer” of a media credential can post video or audio highlights online, and this would seem - again, I say “seem” - to include postgame press conferences, which I’ve taken to doing from other events via my AJC-issued BlackBerry Storm, as well as games.
Also by Bradley:
Bottom line: Twittered updates would seem to be at real risk, and so would live blogs, which I can tell you we at AJC.com were fully intending to do from Georgia games. (We’ve done them before, as you know.)
Wrote Hurt:
But it is part of a continuing trend of restrictions and limitations on legitimate news outlets who seek to cover SEC football for everyone from loyal fans to general-interest readers to the taxpayers who are footing the bill at 11 of the 12 SEC institutions. Soon, “press conferences” may fall under the same restrictions, at which point they stop being “press conferences” and become something else — performance art, perhaps, but not valid interchanges. Before long, the only news that fans will get will be strictly the news that institutions want them to get.
Perhaps there are some Alabama fans that think that would be great, since only sanitized sound bites would ever be aired and only bowdlerized stories would be printed. But, first of all, truth is important. Second of all, even the most crimson-dyed Alabama fan wants to know the dirt on the other 11 schools in the league, if it is real and substantiated.
Franz Beard at Gator Country wrote, “This new announcement that the SEC will no longer permit video highlights of its football games to be shown anywhere but on its new pay to view website is pure greed. If you aren’t incensed, then you should be.”
And Rocky Top Talk believes that the new media credential guidelines will exclude bloggers.
Update: As for what I do on this blog, it appears that the new policy would cut out any audio clips from players and coaches. As for live-blogging, it would restrict that to merely giving the score at periodic intervals. Here is the actual paragraph pertaining to live-blogging:
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and a 1981 graduate of the University of Kentucky, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. Born in Paris, he graduated from George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester in 1977. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. In 2010, his Sidelines blog was one of four Editor and Publisher's EPpy Award finalists for best sports blog. You can e-mail him at jclay@herald-leader.com.
You know the old saying, “Any press is good press.” Well I think the opposite is also true. Less press is the same as bad press. It is bad for PR. It is bad for getting your product out there. And upset reporters seldom write glowing reviews of your product. I’m not sure I understand what they are thinking. SEC fans are fanatical about their teams, but they are also not stupid and know when they are being ripped off.
Wonder how much of this is being pushed by the Evil Empire-types over at the Worldwide Leader? This has all the hallmarks of a Bristol, Conn. move.
I urge you to live blog, get caught, and challenge it in court. No court would uphold their rule, it’s clearly unconstitutional.
Well, then the bloggers and columnists need to get busy ripping these policies a new one. Not the reporters, mind you…but the opinion folks need to be vocal. Frankly though, this issue goes far beyond following your favorite teams or watching youtube game highlights.
We’re going to spend the next 20 years fighting over online content delivery pricing/systems. Everyone wants their share, and the only people getting hosed are the consumers. Policies like this are no different than Time Warner experimenting with bandwidth caps, Apple rejecting GoogleVoice iPhone Apps, or Facebook claiming they own your media you upload via Terms of Service changes.
If you don’t know the term Net Neutrality, you’re going to become very familiar with it in the next decade. This SEC policy is one more step toward the internet becoming cable TV.
So I guess this means no more 11:35pm games on WKYT??
And what about the fans who don’t have internet access? (They don’t care)
I think the SEC is beginning to tread on thin ice here. Many have argued for some time that the NCAA is an illegal monopoly according to the various federal anti-trust laws, but there’s never been a serious attempt to sue the NCAA (possibly because people want all the teams in one, organized league and because the NCAA has to compete against professional sports). But, if the SEC is claiming to have monopoly-type control over something as fundamental as information about what happens in games or the words of players and coaches, the backlash could lead to legal action challenging not only this but also things such as granting sole broadcast rights (like, say, SEC-ESPN) and could even lead to an AT&T style break-up of the NCAA itself. That’s a far-fetched outcome, for sure, but enough behavior like this puts it in the realm of possibilities.
This is disgusting John. Blogs like yours only add to the enjoyment of watching or listening to a game. Anyone at the arena or even watching at home can blog about the game. If the SEC is an organization devoted to amateur athletics, why are such restrictive measures necessary? These rules contradict the exchange of ideas that universities are supposed to promote!
CAN SOMEONE JUST GIVE US AN “OH PLEASE!” THE SEC HAS SHOT ITSELF IN THE FOOT AGAIN.
CAN YOU IMAGINE IF THEY TRY THIS WITH BASKETBALL? WHAT ARE THEY? NUTS!IT WILL KILL THE SEC IF THEY KEEP THIS SELFISH ATTITUDE. WHAT WERE, AND OR, ARE THEY THINKING. COME ON GET A GRIP! SEC
John, how about posting SEC contact info so fans may voice their displeasure directly?
You can contact Associate Commissioner Charles Bloom at cbloom@sec.org, or Associate Director Chuck Dunlap at cdunlap@sec.org.
This is a violation of free speech, and it has got to be rooted in DISNEY/ESPN management of the new contract with the SEC. There’s not one redeemeing quality about it, and the only thing that it does is attempt to create a digital monopoly. This state pays for these programs, and until ESPN pays for the stadium, and the fans, I’ll call anybody that I want to at halftime and tell them that the Cats look bad or good. I love reading the updates on a live blog. Does that really sell out or enhance the experience? These guys would make Caywood cringe. These are the same guys that put Rush Limbaugh on NFL primetime. They suck.
This is only another freedom on a large list that is being taken from us during the past several years. This needs to be challenged fast.