MLB should address "The somewhat archaic notion that newspaper writers are a class apart, deserving of special treatment..." Marchman

On the need for change in the century old system of MLB Baseball coverage, Marchman says:

• "The problem, such as it is, is that the structure of baseball coverage hasn't really changed in a century. In 1908, baseball writers founded the Baseball Writers Association of America, a trade group that negotiated unified rules for access so that writers could cover the sport. Naturally enough, given the technology of the time, it was a group for and of newspaper reporters, and that hasn't changed since. Because reporters from other news outlets haven't formed comparable groups, one general effect of the system as it stands is that life is easier for newspaper reporters, even those like me who aren't BBWAA members.

If I call a team explaining that I write for The New York Sun, they'll leave a credential at the gate; if I call explaining that I write for a Web site, they'll ask me a few more questions, and some will tell me to buy a ticket.

• ***After a century, this setup is starting to show its age. ***It's predicated on the somewhat archaic notion that newspaper writers are a class apart, deserving of special treatment others don't receive, because they've been vetted by newspaper editors and thus presumably have qualifications and an audience, and can be held accountable for their coverage.**** If you were designing a system from scratch, I don't think you'd do it this way.

There's no arrangement, for instance, guaranteeing a writer for Baseball Prospectus access to a ballgame, whereas a writer for the Final Call, if he had a BBWAA card, could waltz right in despite working for smaller, less credible outlet. In practice, writers for established online outlets generally won't have problems getting access they legitimately need to, but their arrangements are tenuous and insecure, and that's probably not fair.

Nonetheless, baseball needs to address this issue; leaving it to team PR departments to address on an ad hoc basis is going to leave baseball behind the curve..."

Marchman suggests,

"start hashing out a league-wide policy differentiating reporters on the basis of the work they do, rather than on the basis of where that work is published." *

• Cameron and Mariotti have needs in common, and they're different from the needs of someone who travels to 81 road games a year and needs to spend hours in the locker room every single day, as well as from those of the proprietor of derekjeteristhecutest.com. Another good idea would be to set out some expectations for online writers who want the sort of access print reporters enjoy.

• "From Tim Marchman's article in The NY Sun, 6/13/07, "Time to Recognize the Online Reporters."

• Via Poynter.org/Romenesko

*P.S. The BBWAA's first stated goal is to protect its members' jobs and territory. Long ago needing change in various areas it remains, as the author states, about the same as it was a century ago because other groups did nothing about it.

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