Are blogs media

An interesting issue from the provinces. Up in Hawke’s Bay, the blog BayBuzz keeps an eye on local government issues.

Now the BayBuzz editor wanted to record a meeting of the Hastings District Council which was debating a $60 million project. The standing orders say:

“When a meeting of the local authority is open to the public the following provisions shall apply:

(a) Bona fide members of the news media (including newspaper, radio and television) shall be entitled to attend any meeting or any part of a meeting for the purpose of reporting the proceedings for any news media.

(b) Any member of the public who is not a bona fide member of the news media shall obtain the consent of the meeting to the use of visual recording devices.

(c) Any recording of meetings shall be carried out in an unobtrusive manner, and shall not be distracting to members.

(d) Any recording of meetings shall be notified to the Chairperson at the commencement of the meeting.”

The Council went into closed session to debate whether the Baybuzz blog counts as media and they eventually decided it did not as there were no ground rules of fairness and they thought the video could be misued.

I think the Council is going against the tide by denying a local blog the same rights as other media.

In the United States bloggers can attend White House press conferences and get accredited to party conventions.

In NZ bloggers are often inited to conferences as media, and are even allowed in the Budget lockup.

As for ground rules of fairness, I think it is worth noting that the Press Council can possibly hear complaints about blogs. They consider complaints even about those which do not recognise the Press Council. This is not to guarantee they would rule on a blog, but it is possible they would.