Just got an email from the Democrats, stating that they will be issuing press credentials to bloggers for their in Boston:
The Democratic National Convention Committee is pleased to announce that for the first time ever, bloggers will be offered Convention access through the official media credentialing process.
Because the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston is less than 90 days away and space is extremely limited, we encourage those interested in this first-ever opportunity to act now. To apply to cover the 2004 Democratic National Convention as a blogger, you will need to submit applications to both the Senate Periodical Press Gallery AND the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) Press Gallery before the May 28th deadline.
The instructions are a bit confusing though: as you can see, they say you must first apply to the Senate Periodical Press Gallery for credentials, but the way I read their requirements it seems like no “pure blogger” would qualify. But they then note that “Bloggers who do not receive convention credentials through the Congressional galleries can still apply to the Democratic National Convention Committee Press Gallery at http://www.dems2004.org/pressgallery.”
I’ve sent an email back asking for clarification on the process; will post an update if/when I receive it. But regardless of procedural complications, kudos to the Dems for opening up to the blogging crowd…
Update: The DNC is truly learning to operate on ‘net time: I already received a response to my query from Mike Liddell:
“As I understand it, the Senate press gallery requested that we send bloggers through them, in addition to our press gallery, even though bloggers don’t fall within their normal guidelines. I can confirm that if you give me a day or two.
The short story is that blogging is such a new medium that there isn’t a standard way to credential bloggers just yet. But we’re working to make it as streamlined as possible.”
I’ll update again if more info comes in.
P.S. – I also sent an email to the RNC convention contact email, asking if they are prepared to make the same offer to bloggers. Will let you know what they say!
P.P.S. – I’d better be careful with this asking-questions-and-writing-about-the-answers thing; somebody might accuse me of doing actual reporting.
Update 5/6: Initial response received from the RNC: “Good question, we shall check. Thank you for contacting the RNC.”
Stay tuned!
Update 5/6 (b) : How much would you pay for your favorite blogger to cover one or both conventions? It strikes me that this is an excellent opportunity for “pay-for-coverage” trips where a blogger solicits dollars from their readers in exchange for a pledge to use those funds to cover the convention. (And no, I’m not interested in actually going myself, so this isn’t about little old me). So if you’d be willing to fork out a little dinero to have one of your fave’s do the coverage: speak up! They might say yes…
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