Bloggers banned from Dallas Mavericks locker room
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks (and, usually, a fairly savvy online guy), has banned bloggers from the locker room of the Dallas Mavericks “no matter what affiliation.” That means the Dallas Morning News’ Tim MacMahon, who covers (and blogs about) the team for his newsroom, won’t be welcome, as he blogs here.
Furthermore, if a blog writer is coming to cover a game, the publication must inform the Mavericks PR staff they are sending a blogger. In order to enforce this policy, we must know this information.
We have gone this route because we did not want to give preferential treatment to any blogger, whether they are an individual or from a large media outlet. We just do not have enough room in the locker room, nor enough media passes to fairly accommodate everyone.
The irony, as MacMahon points out in the blog item, is that Cuban isn’t a neophyte about online media. MacMahon links to the Online News Association’s archived keynote address from 2006, in which Cuban criticizes the NFL policies that clamped down on the ability of online journalists to do their jobs.
UPDATE: This afternoon, Cuban responded to MacMahon’s concerns in his own blog here. Cuban writes:
Right now we have a situation where a blogger that works for the Dallas Morning News would like continued access to the locker room. Prior to last week, I had no idea this person’s primary job at the Morning News is to blog. I hadn’t seen or read it. He was just one of the 4 or 5 people from the Morning News in the locker room post game. When it was brought to my attention I immediately made it an issue. Why?
He goes on to say: “One last little thought. Some out there will take this as my not “liking” blogs. Ridiculous. its the exact opposite. What I don’t like is unequal access.”
Seems like there ought to be a way to solve the problem without making a blanket ban on bloggers.
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