Two Pa. papers weigh in on new sports coverage rules

The National Football League (NFL) recently imposed several new rules regarding media coverage of football games, players and team personnel.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the first rule limits media outlets to 45 seconds of online audio or video footage with league or team personnel per day on NFL property. Another requires media Web sites to remove footage after 24 hours and include links to the Web sites of pertinent teams and nfl.com.

Naomi Halperin, photo editor of The (Allentown) Morning Call, experienced another new rule at June's Pocono 500 race. She was asked to sign a credential application agreeing that Nascar would own all images captured at the event. Halperin "pushed back and received press passes without hassle."

Halperin told The Wall Street Journal that photographers want to have control of their images and don't want to risk seeing them in advertisements as somebody else's property.

Jim Jenks, sports editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer and former president of the AP Sports Editors, represents the AP Sports Editors in talks with the NFL. Jenks strives to keep open dialogue between the NFL and the sports editors. As told to The Wall Street Journal, one of his concerns is "why a coach's weekly formal press conference couldn't be streamed by all, and argues that such events wouldn't take place without the respoters who ask the questions."

Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 16

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