weeklypress.com • ucreview.com •july 10, 2013 5


Philadelphia Stops the Press passes M


By Nathaniel Lee Weekly Press / UC Review Correspondent


embers of the press will have to go somewhere else for


their press credentials. This is the message of Mark Mc- Donald, the Mayor’s press secretary. For nearly a de- cade members of the press have gone to City Hall to acquire their press badges. These badges not only identified them as legitimate members of the press but also allowed them to bypass the lengthy lines which form by visitors at City Hall who must sign in at the front desk and fill in the visitor’s log.


So why is this important? The press credentials issued by the city had credibility in that they were issued by local government. These cre- dentials were respected in most places, in fact, I have never known them not be respected anywhere. The badges contained an actual photograph of the individual journalist as well as the name of the publica- tion (s) for which he/she worked. This helped iden- tify journalists not only in City Hall but while on loca- tion in the community as


well since the badges could only be acquired through an application process and given to established journal- ists who could prove their employment with a news publication.


One City Hall employee said that City Hall no longer issued the press badges be- cause a journalist was found somewhere he was not sup- posed to be. Considering that City Hall is a public place, this wasn’t very fea- sible.


Could it be that journalists


were seeing too much? I put the question to Mark McDonald, Press secretary for Mayor Michael Nutter. “I have no interests or need for it [continuing the distribution of press creden- tials] and it kept us away from the work we are sup- posed to be doing here,” said McDonald.


McDonald said that the


press credentials were once issued by the police depart- ment and the responsibil- ity was later transferred to Mayor’s press office. “It has become tremen- dously costly and a time consuming activity, there is no municipal interest for do- ing something they can do through their employers.” Asked if the decision to


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halt the distribution of press credentials were initiated by the Mayor, McDonald took responsibility for the deci- sion stating that it was not an issue which would re- quire the Mayor’s attention. Despite the changes, Mc- Donald says that members


of the press would not be hampered in their duties by the change. However, since the change, I have lost a photo opportunity and a chance to get a statement while on assignment and waiting in line to go through security at City Hall.


During that time I was covering a school board hearing and was in line when Dr. William Hite, then newly installed as superin- tendent of schools, walked through the corridor. Needless to say, I missed the chance. Since then I


made it a point to not cover stories at City Hall. There is a special pass for those covering City Hall as a regular beat but this differs from the press badges since it is given to employees and officials at City Hall. How- ever, those who are assigned stories from their editors to cover a specific event or meeting but aren’t regulars, can go to the back of the line – literally. “If they [reporters] come to City Hall, they go through se- curity. If they are here every- day then they can get a pass to get through the turnstile but that’s not a press pass,” said McDonald.


So what do the City’s news agencies have to say about the elimination of press creden- tials at City Hall? So far they have been oddly silent on the issue; some didn’t even know that the changes occurred. McDonald says that report- ers can now receive their press credentials from the publications for which they write. That is no problem for recognized publications that have an established name in the city but the smaller, lesser- known papers might not get the same accessibility with their self-generated press cre- dentials.


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