[Sca-cooks] SCA media relations

[david friedman]

>Also sprach <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>:


>>Respectable members of the press would have contacted either Pennsic or
>>Coopers Lake, beforehand or at the gate. They would be escorted by a media
>>liason. That's the rule. A member of the press wandering around loose is
>>already breaking the rules. They've already displayed contempt and
>>disrespect for our setup.
>
>True. Also, sometimes we, as SCAdians, worry a little too much about 
>offending people. Not always, just sometimes. When you have to ask 
>someone if they are, essentially, trespassing, there's a limit to 
>the number of truly polite ways to ask (and they tend to take a lot 
>longer than a simple, "ID, please?"), and if the person is truly a 
>SCAdian who belongs there, there's a strong risk of having the 
>incident remembered as an example of your extreme rudeness when in 
>fact it was just somebody doing his/her job in a reasonably 
>forthright manner.
>
>Not always. Sometimes. I have been both the perpetrator and the 
>victim of this type of misadventure numerous times, though, and 
>usually the first and best thing a polite person can do is ignore 
>another's perceived rudeness.
>
>Adamantius

I don't know what the relevant rules are, but it sounds as though 
Adamantius, at least, is assuming a member of the press who isn't 
also legally attending the event.

What about one who is? So far as I can remember, when I came to 
Pennsic I didn't sign anything agreeing not to write about it--and 
while I'm not a reporter, I am an associate editor of a magazine and 
an author. Is there a rule somewhere saying that if somene who is 
attending is planning to write a newspaper or magazine article, he 
has to do it under official supervision? That sounds both 
unreasonable and unenforceable.

I can see that if members of the press expect special treatment--if, 
for example, they want to set up cameras and film battles in ways in 
which ordinary individuals wouldn't be permitted to--they could be 
expected to do it through a media liason. But Jadwiga sounds as 
though she is describing something beyond that.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/